Survival of the Fittest: Aftermath
by 23rd-daughter
Summary: Following the events of the movie, the world is left shaken. The individuals who fought in the war against the Kaiju are left to pick up the pieces even as they are forced to face a new threat. This is the story of the aftermath of the war and the new threats that arise and must be dealt with. We were foolish to ever think we had stopped them.
1. Chapter 1

**I have not written anything in a while, but after seeing Pacific Rim, I couldn't get the story ideas and the movie out of my head. Just as a warning: This has not been beta read so there will be mistakes and I'm not 100% sure of the eventual path of the story. Any reviews are appreciated.**

Tap. Tap. Tap. The hollow sound of a pen hitting wood filled the small conference room. Tap. Tap.  
"Raleigh!" Mako's sharp hiss of annoyance and disproval cut through the empty room for a brief moment, stilling Raleigh's pen an inch from the table top. Under the heat of Mako's glare he slowly placed the pen onto the blank pad of paper sitting in front of him and pushed both away.

Both Rangers were exhausted and despite their growing friendship and drift connection, they had spent far too much time together in the recent weeks following the end of the war. It started out as media interviews and an extended victory tour throughout the Pan Pacific region after the clock had been stopped before devolving into a series of debriefings, meetings, and interviews with every government who could get an official in the same room as the pair of heroes. It was difficult for both. Neither had been given enough time to grieve and celebrate during the long hours and numerous flights. The world needed to see strength and stability from the two living jaeger pilots and both were aware of this. They fulfilled their duties admirably with assistance from Marshall Hanson but now they were sitting in a quiet room with no explanation.

"I still think it will work!" Newton bustled into the room, a wall of energy that effectively stopped any further confrontation between the two pilots. "No." Hermann followed a moment later at a much more sedate pace. His cane thumping a steady rhythm across the room as he took a seat next to Mako.

Newton dropped heavily into an empty seat across from the calm pair, next to Raleigh with a wounded sigh. "But what…"

"No." Hermann stopped him cleanly. "The last time you had a revolutionary idea, we were forced to repress the apocalypse."

Herman slid farther into his chair with a second sigh and crossed his arms, settling for glaring at his lab partner. Silence descended on the room. Just as Raleigh was reaching for the pen sitting in front of him, the door swung open a third time.

"Gentlemen. Mako." Herc Hanson entered the room with a nod. Max trotting alongside his feet before dropping to the ground as Herc took a seat.

"So…" Raleigh broke the silence a moment later with a look at Marshall Hansen.

"Not yet." Hansen shook his head.

After a few minutes of near quiet, disrupted by Hermann and Newton continuing their vague argument at just above a whisper, Tendo Choi walked into the room followed by a woman Raleigh only vaguely recognized, each carried a tablet. The pair took the final seats at the long table. "Tendo. Angel" the Marshall greeted them before placing his own tablet on the table.

"Ladies and Gentlemen." Hansen addressed the room. "We're here because I wanted you to hear the news from me first. I have just finished a very long meeting with representatives from the Pacific nations and other parties. The Pan Pacific Defense Corps, specifically the Jaegar program, is being reinitiated."

Silence followed his words for a brief moment before a mass of voices fought for attention in the small arena. After a moment of trying to be heard over Newton, Raleigh glanced over at Mako and realized how withdrawn she had become with just a few brief words. Giving up the battle for attention, he reached an arm across the table and rested it on her wrist. She brought her eyes up from the table in surprise. Grief filled her steady gaze before being suppressed then replaced by resignation. He knew what this meant to her, just what it meant to him though it held a much stronger grip on her as her wounds were still raw and gaping. Restarting the program meant that all the sacrifices of Jaeger pilots; Chuck Hansen's, Yancy's, and Pentecost's efforts had been in vain. Mako offered him a grim smile before both turned back to the Marshall.

While they had been distracted, Herc had succeeded in subduing Newton and had begun answering the numerous questions in the room. "A second rift has not opened yet to our knowledge. But knowing the capabilities of the Kaiju and their masters, it is foolish of us to assume that that it will not happen eventually. The PPDC has realized the flaws in the Pacific wall plan and because Jaegers are the only successful defense humanity has, we will be on standby status until we can ascertain the validity of the remaining threat through whatever means necessary though discretion is vital." This last part was followed by a pointed look at Newton.

Marshall Hansen turned his attention to Raleigh for a moment. "Due to your…" he hesitated for a moment before continuing. "Leave of absence. I don't believe you ever met Angel." He gestured at the woman next to Tendo Choi. She gave Marshall Hansen an unreadable look for a moment before turning to Raleigh and offering a hand across the table. "Nikki Reese." Raliegh took the offered hand and shook it once before her name and features registered in his brain. He had never met her but Yancy had. She had been in one of the Jaeger support teams at the Shatterdome in Anchorage for a short time.

Herc continued after a moment. "Mako, Raleigh. You will be working with Tendo and Angel. We have no functioning Jaegers and no pilots. The four of you will be addressing this issue. Hermann, Newton. I have other jobs requiring your attention."


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank You to everyone who read, followed, favorited etc. It means a lot even if it's just clicking a button. Still not 100% sure on the path of the story but it is expanding into something real rather than just a prompt. This chapter is a bit rough but acts as a decent bridge into the main plot. Any reviews help!**

The group had been dismissed by Marshall Hansen a few minutes later. Hermann and Newton stayed behind to discuss scientific research options with Herc while Tendo and Nikki Reese left with a vague comment about needing to oversee dredging operations. This left Raleigh and Mako to walk back to barracks alone.

After several minutes of companionable silence, Raleigh breached the topic he knew Mako wanted to avoid. "You okay with this?" The vague 'This' being her role as a Ranger, their partnership, and continuing Jaeger combat. Mako, despite her abilities had been thrown in the deep end of a war, chased a rabbit into her worse memories, and then seen the man who mentored her die; all in just a few short days. It would be enough to drive anyone crazy and make them regret their choices. Raleigh knew how strong Mako was, he just needed her to remember it.

Mako stopped in the middle of the hallway and glanced at Raleigh before looking away. He could see the line of her lips thin in concentration as she considered his question. Turning to face him again she gave him a curt nod. "Yes. I will be okay" Raleigh almost spoke again but was stopped before he could utter a word. "Can we not talk of another subject?" Mako asked politely with a slight smile before she resumed walking. Raleigh hesitated then followed. He knew her now. They had drifted together enough for him to know that she refused to fail and if she said something, she would succeed. He knew she learned it from Pentecost.

Walking quickly to catch up to his partner and her smooth stride, Raleigh asked the other question that had been bothering him, though nowhere near as much as his concern for Mako. "So what's the deal with Nikki Reese?" Mako's stride slowed slightly, allowing them to walk side by side easily. "What do you mean?" She watched him, almost gauging his knowledge. "I remember her from the Icebox. Well Yancy does. She was on the support Chrome Brutus…." Raleigh trailed off, unsure of his words. Yancy's memories were jumbled and confusing. They rose to the surface in fragments at strange times before disappearing for months on end.

Mako nodded. "She started out on support teams for several jaegers but quickly became an expert in jaeger structure and engineering. She worked with Tendo on repair and restoration for all the Jaegers." Raleigh nodded as she spoke then stopped in confusion. "I thought Stacker said you were responsible for the restoration of Gipsy Danger." Mako nodded again. "She focused on repairing Crimson Typhoon and Cherno Alpha while I worked on Gipsy Danger. Cherno Alpha was derelict when she arrived with the Kaidonovskysin Hong Kong. It required everything the support teams were capable of in order to keep her operational."

They reached their quarters and Mako stopped outside her door. "Tendo Choi is close with her I believe. I have had little interaction with her until the Jaeger program was condensed here in Hong Kong. I always travelled with Marshall Stacker to other shatterdomes and she was purposely stationed at others. Separation of knowledge in case of attack is vital in wartime." Mako opened her door then slipped inside without glancing back. Raleigh hesitated then went to his own room, realizing Mako needed space and rest rather than his persistent questions. His time away from the PPDC had left him with little knowledge of the Jaeger teams and when Pentecost brought him back on, he had had little time to learn anything other than vital information. A flaw he needed to rectify before any future attacks.

Restless now, Raleigh ventured towards the command center for the shatterdome, hoping to find Tendo. His curiosity had been stirred and it wouldn't settle till he had answers. Wandering through the halls he found a technician who informed him that Mr. Choi and Ms. Reese were both currently overseeing operations on the main deck that overlooked Victoria Bay.

Walking out onto the metal platform, Raleigh was shocked by the crowd of workers. Massive screens were set up overlooking the water while a swarm of helicopters hovered over a number of ships. After a moment he realized they were in the region where Cherno Alpha and Crimson Typhoon had been defeated.

Scanning the bustling crowd on the deck, he found Tendo by the monitors. He began working his way through the workers and yelled "Choi!" to catch the man's attention. The LOCCENT Officer partially turned away from the monitors, still speaking into his headset and gestured for Raleigh to join him. "What's going on?" Raleigh was amazed he had missed this operation while it was being set up but remembered how the depths of a shatterdome could lead anyone to lose track of time.

Tendo Choi held up a hand to silence Raleigh, all his attention now on the screens and distant helicopters. "Everything clear?" He spoke into the headset.

"Good to go!" Nikki Reese's voice came through the speakers on the edges of the screens. With those words, almost every person on the deck stopped moving and turned towards the bay. For a moment it seemed like nothing was happening but then Raleigh realized that the ships were moving away from the hovering air craft and cables were being retracted into the cabins of each helicopter. With groans that echoed across the water and bounced off the sides of the shatterdome and buildings of Hong Kong, large segments of the two lost Jaegers rose from the depths of the bay, shedding water and Kaiju blood.

"We recovered what we could of the pilot remains with divers following the attack but didn't have the manpower to raise the jaeger remains before now." Tendo's voice dropped several octaves as he spoke to Raleigh, his face grim, gaze still focused on the movements out in the bay. Despite standing next to him, the younger man could barely make out his words.

The pair continued to watch the progress of the helicopters as they brought the ruins to the empty lower deck and dropped their load onto the metal with a crash. Several men in heavy gear repelled down from one helicopter to land near the cargo.

As it came to a creaking halt on the isolated deck, the torn metal and ruined forms of each Jaeger was haunting, forcing Raleigh to remember Gipsy Danger's similar shape years ago following the attack of Knifehead. The Jaegers were more than just weapons to their pilots and this wreckage was a harsh reminder of the cost of the Kaiju war to anyone who saw it.

Tendo had turned back to his screens, barking orders into his headset for the departing helicopters and vessels as well as the teams of workers that now descended on the two Jaegers. Cherno alpha's lower half had been salvaged in almost one piece. The upper portion of the Jaeger and the conn-pod where entirely gone due to the reactor explosion caused by Leatherback. A large portion of Crimson Typhoon's chest and a single arm had also been salvaged.

"What will be done with the pieces?" Raleigh found his voice and directed the question at Choi.

"Head to the contamination showers!" Nikki Reese's command to the salvage team on the lower deck followed Raleigh's question and drew his attention as she walked up the stairs connecting the two decks, heavy boots pounding on the metal stairs. Her lower half was covered thick gear meant to protect from Kaiju blue while her upper body gear had been stripped off to reveal a simple t-shirt_. "PPDC: Cancelling the Apocalypse since 2025" _was scrawled across the front in sloppy letters.

"It is all for your interim jaeger." Nikki answered his question as she passed him and moved towards Tendo's station. Gloved fingers typed coordinates into one of the screens before she looked back at him and continued. "All the factories were shut down and it will take time to get them running again. We're under orders to get a Jaeger in battle condition asap and a combo form is our only option for the moment. I can promise you'll get a real jaeger again but until then, you and Mako are stuck with a Frankenstein version. We're out of other options at the moment." Nikki stripped gloves off of each hand, exposing a strange blue tattoo encircling her left wrist. Raleigh was distracted from it though as she and Tendo continued discussing the salvage. "The silt shifted under the other arm we reached, cables snapped. Not sure we'll be able to reach it again. There's a lot of Kaiju blood trapped in the wreckage now. No way to send divers in to reattach the cables."

Tendo frowned Nikki's words. "We'll figure something out. We can work with what we have for now." He glanced at Raleigh, "We're meeting first thing tomorrow morning in the same conference room. Can you tell Mako?"

The Ranger nodded and the pair turned back to their operation. Raleigh knew he could do nothing to help here and left the rushing workers on the deck to their tasks, with more questions than he had arrived with.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank You to everyone who has reviewed, followed, favorite, etc. I promise there will be action soon; there just needs to be a little more build up. I know the ending of this chapter is a little weak but I went through 4 drafts and none were perfect so….yeah. Regardless, please Review!**

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"So have you heard what they plan to do until the factories are up and running again? Raleigh and Mako were seated in the mess hall. They had decided on grabbing an early breakfast before their meeting. The early hour allowed them a degree of privacy and a table of their own. The majority of the crews and technicians weren't on duty and the few who were working were currently on the outer deck, working on the decontamination and movement of the salvaged parts into the Jaeger bays.

Having cleaned his entire tray already, Raleigh contemplated the apple sitting on the corner or Mako's. His hand crept toward it, and when it wasn't swatted away by his partner, he snagged the apple and bit into it with a crunch. Mako watched him evenly for a moment then smiled as she answered his question. "It is logical. New intelligence and satellite readings were brought to my attention last night. A functioning Jaeger is crucial at the moment."

"New intel? What is it?" Raleigh immediately asked, wondering why he hadn't been told at the same time as Mako.

Almost as if she knew his train of thought, Mako continued. "Officer Choi required my assistance with its analysis last night and could not take it to any other officer at the time due to its sensitive nature. I believe we will be reviewing it immediately this morning."

Raleigh nodded, dropped the apple core on his tray, and began eyeing Mako's last piece of toast. "No." Mako firm voice stopped all further thoughts of food thievery.

A few minutes later, Mako stood and raised a single eyebrow at Raleigh. He stood and followed her with a grin, relying on her to pilot them through the labyrinth of hallways that lead back to the small conference room. Seeing the room for a second time, Raleigh realized the value of its position. It was small and easily overlooked but off a busy hall that lead to the vital areas of the shatterdome for easy access in case of an alarm.

Nikki looked up when the pair entered and Raleigh saw her eyes were blood shot. She was wearing a t-shirt identical to yesterday's except for the color. This one was blue rather than black. Her hair was pulled tightly back from her face but a few loose strands had escaped the pony tail, adding to her exhausted appearance. Two separate tablets and a sheaf of papers were scattered around her along with an apparently vital cup of coffee.

"Is it time already?" Nikki attempted to pull the scattered papers into order but Raleigh grabbed one before she managed to collect them. It was a hastily sketched but detailed design for circuitry for what appeared to be a Jaeger knee joint. He turned it. Or was it an elbow? The paper was snatched from Raleigh before he could decide.

"Your partner isn't very polite is he Mori?"

"One of his many flaws."

It took a moment for the women's conversation to register for Raleigh. He glared at each then slid into a chair next to Nikki.

Tendo and Herc Hansen entered the room together just as Mako took a seat. The pair split, Tendo to join Mako and Marshall Hansen to take the spot at the head of the table.

Hansen dove straight into discussion without any preamble. "To start things off, I want to state that everything discussed in this room does not leave it until construction begins on each Jaeger. It is vital we keep our plans isolated until they are underway. Specifically, Newton and Hermann are not to be told of any Jaeger details. It is possible they will be called upon to drift with a Kaiju brain segment again to search for information if their newest plans fail."

As the Marshall trailed off, Tendo placed his tablet in the center of the table and entered a command into the system. A moment later an air display of a world map floated in blue and green above the tabletop. Hansen continued: "For the past 24 hours, satellites have been registering energy signatures similar to that recorded during the early years when the rift first opened. They are short term. Each one visible for no longer than ten minutes but it is their locations that are the most troubling." As the former pilot spoke, red dots began to appear on the display. "There have been 9 total signatures but they have not been restricted to the Pan Pacific Region. Five were within the region while two registered in the Northern Atlantic, one just by the Falkland Islands, and one between Cape Hope and Antartica.

"No signs of physical rifts though?" Nikki asked quickly. Mako and Hansen shook their heads at the same time.

"This specific information is not to be passed on. High ranking officers are aware of the threat but anyone else is to be left believing that we are resurrecting the Jaeger Program as an overly cautious move and simply hypothetical defense." Marshall Hansen held the gaze of everyone in the room to reinforce this point until each nodded. "You four are to initiate the Jaeger designs. Officer Choi, Ranger Mori, and Ms. Reese have the knowledge of the former designs of past Jaeger generations and the operating systems. Rangers' Mori and Beckett you are also to use your knowledge of past interactions with the Kaiju and discern what weapons, styles, and structures are most necessary in the new generation. You will also be assisting me in choosing and training new pilots. I am aware that we are all beyond our comfort zones and entering operations we were never trained for. It is vital we succeed despite the obstacles." Marshall Hansen turned his attention to Tendo. "Do you have an update on the filler Jaeger?"

Tendo nodded and changed the screen projected above their heads. A mismatched and bulky Jaeger form appeared and rotated slowly. "We need at least two weeks for the Jaeger designated Green Beast…"

"Green Beast?" Mako interrupted, curiosity tingeing her words.

"Someone wouldn't let me name it Frankeinstein's Monster." Nikki spoke up, sounding almost petulant.

"Too long Angel." Marshall Hansen said without looking up from the jaeger blueprints.

Tendo cleared his throat and continued pointedly, bringing up statistics onto the screen as he spoke. "Speed and reaction time will be slower when compared to Gipsy Danger but armor will be thicker and its lower center of gravity will give you better stability in battle." He glanced at Nikki who nodded and continued where he left off. "The conn-pod will be built from basics and be designed after Gipsy's. We should have simulations finished in three days for you two to begin working with. The largest difference will be in the weapons. We don't have the time for plasma cannon or your chain blades. You'll be stuck with one of Crimson's spin claws and separate elbow blade on the new arm. We can't manage anything energy based under these time constraints. Praying for no attacks for a few months is our safest option unfortunately."

Herc Hansen nodded grimly, accepting their report. "The four of you need to begin blueprint planning this afternoon at the latest. Mori, Beckett, you'll be notified of the schedule for recruit scouting trips in the next few days. Nikki, we'll be meeting regarding the twins in two hours." With his commands given, Hansen left, leaving the new team in silence to discuss their plans.

Nikki stood a moment later. "Can we meet in a few hours? I need a shower and real cloths before I meet with Herc again."

Raleigh found himself nodding along with Tendo as Mako responded with "Yes. I would like time to absorb this information and begin considering design options." The Jaeger pilot found himself wondering at the conflicting images of Nikki Reese and Her Hansen. They seemed very familiar with each other, to the point of Hansen using a nickname, but as she left the room to prepare for the pair's meeting, Nikki seemed angry at him.

Tendo left a moment later leaving the partnered pilots alone. "Would you like to spar in a little while?" Mako's soft voice interrupted Raleigh's thoughts. He nodded. "Sure. I'll meet you in the sparring room. I'll probably weight lift until your done reviewing the intel." Mako smiled in agreement. " I will update you when we spar." The pair split as they left to the room, each going to their chosen tasks, leaving the small conference room empty once again.


	4. Chapter 4

**There is a fair amount of OC back story in this chapter but I tried to make it as fluid as possible. It's vital to the future plot and explains a few details from the earlier chapters. Bear with me and I promise destruction and mayhem soon! And lots of feelings. Mainly Herc Hansen feelings cause he's so awesome. **

**Thank you to all my new followers and people who favorited the story though I got to say, I was a little depressed by the lack of reviews. Please review and let me know what you think about any little detail! Everything helps!**

…..

Raleigh walked slowly through the halls towards the conference room; he had given himself extra time to get there and was in no hurry. He needed some time alone after the sparring session with Mako. It hadn't been combat but almost a form of drifting together without the equipment. Each pilot relied on what they knew of the other from drifting and put it into the exercise. It was a conversation of fluid movements rather than attacks or defending. It was also exhausting. Mentally and physically which is what had led Raleigh to seek some solitary time after they had finished rather than join Mako for lunch.

Reaching the now familiar door, Raliegh placed a hand on it, ready to push it open but froze when he heard Mako's voice inside followed by Nikki's. He knew he shouldn't listen in. He really did. But that didn't stop him. Trying to look as inconspicuous in the hallway as possible, he leaned on the wall next to the door and listened.

"You are restricting them. Holding them back. People like us need to be in a Jaeger." Mako's voice was calm, convincing.

"You think I don't know that!" Nikki was angry but it didn't seem to be directed at Mako. "I know that the simulations aren't enough! But can't I be selfish about this one thing?"

"No." Raleigh could almost see Mako shaking her head. "You were kept out of a conn-pod due to your incompatibility not because of your inability. You are keeping them out of a Jaeger out of fear and nothing else. They are going to be in one eventually, now it the safest time for them. The threat of attacks is as low as it may ever be. They are about to be legal adults and once that happens, you have no say in the matter. Give them time to adjust now, in relative safety, and they will thank you for it later." Raleigh was surprised by how convincing Mako was even without knowing the topic they were discussing. He leaned closer during the gap in the conversation trying to hear more.

"Heard enough?" The quiet words came from right by Raleigh's ear, causing him to spin away from the door and towards the voice. Choi stood behind him, an amused but still judging look on his face. "I'll explain later. We need to get started." Tendo slapped the pilot on the shoulder as he walked past and raised his voice before continuing so the room's occupants knew they were about to be interrupted. "So how was the sparring session?" Raleigh recovered quickly and followed the technician. "Good. Ladies." He directed the second part at Mako and Nikki, schooling his face into a slight grin, trying not to give his eavesdropping away. Mako narrowed her eyes, apparently unconvinced by his patented, charming grin while Nikki only greeted him with a simple "Beckett."

She had indeed changed since the morning meeting. Her hair almost a different color than the basic brown he had seen the last few days. It was closer to a deep red. Her skin was paler and the blue tattoo on her wrist and arm stood out much more. Apparently walking around dirty for days on end was part of her job. Raleigh was unsure of what to think. She wore a jacket similar to those of Jaeger pilots but patches ran down the arms, Raleigh recognized a few, including one for Gipsy, though the sheer number was unexpected. Support teams usually had jackets like those of the pilots for the Jaeger they worked with, but Nikki's implied that she had worked on roughly a dozen Jaegers in some form, leaving Raleigh with even more questions as the two men join the women at the table.

Tendo dove right in, relaying guide lines from Marshall Hansen. "We're looking at five new Jaegers excluding Green Beast but include your new one which is will be the first one into production. We have the option of simply reproducing the updated version of Gipsy that Mako oversaw, or we can update it further based any input you two have."

He looked expectantly at the pair of pilots who in turned looked at each other. It was silently decided that Raleigh would speak for them at the moment. "Same design would be best. It's the only one we're familiar with and I can't think of anything we would prefer. It would be useful to look into reinforcing some areas though. The conn-pod and arm joints specifically. I'm rather tired of having my arm's torn off." He added in the last part to lighten the mood. It earned him a few grins as they continued.

"We'll need to reinforce the knee joints too." Nikki added after a moment. "The little free fall stunt you two pulled exposed a few flaws in the mechanics. It's unlikely you'll be in a similar situation but I would more comfortable not having to deal with those repairs again."

Tendo nodded and made a note on his tablet as did Mako. Nikki began sketching something out on hers. Raleigh felt left out but knew he was out of his area of expertise. He could build a wall but that was about it the extent of his construction knowledge. He knew nothing about Jaeger mechanics or circuitry.

"You are both aware that staying with an analog system will restrict your speed and weapons strength." Tendo asked after a moment. Raleigh nodded, letting Mako speak for the pair this time. "Considering the knowledge that Kaiju are artificially created by some means and that at least one type has Electro Magnetic Pulse abilities, to produce only digital Jaegers would give us a crucial weakness. It might be possible to look into EMP secure Jaegers in the future but given the circumstances, analog is currently the most secure option."

Tendo glanced at Nikki who nodded and added her own thoughts. "Secure digital Jaegers will require a lot more planning and systems set up time. Something we cannot afford right now. It's a good option for the future, but not viable until after we have a strong defense program running again.

"What about weapons?" Raleigh moved the conversation along now that they had all agreed on analog systems when it seemed like the trio were about to be lost to their tablet displays.

"I'm concerned about outfitting any Jaegers with weaponry that isn't at least partially cauterizing. Gipsy was put into production before we understood the full effects of Kaiju Blue. No other Jaegers since the mark three's have had non-carrier rail or heated weapons like the Gipsy Danger's chain swords. They were effective in the outer atmosphere but if you had pulled that move in Hong Kong, half the city would have been exposed and poisoned." Nikki explained.

"We keep the blades." Mako's voice was cold as she refused the idea outright, surprising Raleigh.

Silence held the room as Mako refused to be swayed and Nikki glared. After several tense moments, Tendo cleared his throat. What if we try to design a system to heat the blade edges? Gipsy can keep the swords but they'll be capable of cauterizing wounds."

"They are the last choice weapons on Gipsy." Raleigh added, trying to help the LOCCENT officer defuse the sudden tension.

The two women seemed to ignore the pair, focusing on each other in a silent battle. Nikki was the first to back down. "We tried a similar option on Crimson's spin blades but the ability was weak. I'll revisit the designs and we can plan to install them on Gipsy Danger. They are one of the last pieces to be fitted on so I could have new generators designed in time" She admitted. "But if they can't effectively cauterize, we have to find another option." It seemed she would refuse to budge if the concession failed. After a hesitation Mako nodded tersely in agreement.

"The factories for Gipsy should be up and running in a month. We'll keep you notified on production times and details." Tendo informed the pair of Rangers. "Angel and I will busy overseeing Green Beast construction for the next few days but the simulation for her should be running in three days for you two to work with. Until then, if you will both review the designs for other Jaegers I'll send you now, we can meet again in about a week to discuss them."

Nikki nodded and stood, grabbing her tablet as soon as Tendo finished speaking. "Sounds good. I've got to go supervise the scaffolding if there isn't anything else." She left without waiting for a response.

Mako stood before the door had time to finish shutting behind the other woman. "I will be in my quarters reviewing the most recent satellite date if either of you should need me." She left with a slight bow to both men.

"Well okay then." Raleigh was unsure of what to think. Tendo snorted at his words and shook his head. "What's their deal?" Raleigh asked quickly. "One minute their giving each other advice, the next their furious at each other for a disagreement in a hypothetical design."

Tendo nodded. " They've been fighting over those chain swords since before restoration began on Gipsy. Angel didn't want them but Mako pushed for them and Pentecost agreed. It's complicated than that though, complicated enough that we need alcohol if we're going to get into it. C'mon."

Raleigh hesitated, Jaeger pilots were forbidden to drink. During the war, the constant threat of Kaiju meant you never real time off duty, and the possible damage inflicted by a drunk pilot in a giant war machine was enough to ensure the rule was followed without hesitation.

Tendo knew the rule though and convinced him with the reminder that even if there was a threat, there were no Jaegers to fight it at the moment. "Take advance of the chance to get drunk. You might not get another for a while. I sure as hell am." The last part was almost bitter.

"Nikki doesn't need you to help with whatever she's overseeing?" Raleigh double-checked before he agreed.

"No. I don't work with the physical reconstruction aspects. They don't need me until the drift wiring starts in a day or two. There is no way in hell they're getting me into one of those damn construction harnesses."

Raleigh shrugged and stood as Tendo gathered his stuff, following the technician out of the room. "Plus there are a few things you need to know before you spend more time with Angel. You've always been prone to foot in mouth disease and she's a bad one to provoke." Tendo added as they walked. Raleigh didn't bother to deny it, he did have a habit letting words escape too quickly. "Like what?" He prodded. "Alcohol first." Choi reminded him.

The pair reached Tendo's private rooms, and settled into a set of chairs as the technician produced a mostly full bottle of vodka. "Courtesy of the Kaidonovskys " Tendo told his friend grimly. Both men fell silent as they began drinking until Raleigh finally broke it. "So what do I need to know?"

Tendo signed and began. "Angel, Nikki Reese, is one of the longest running crew members in the Jaeger Corps. Her father, Mike Reese, was on the support team for Lucky Seven when Marshall Hansen piloted it. Her mother died in one of the Kaiju attacks, she doesn't talk about it and the twins don't remember it, so I don't think anyone but Hansen knows the details."

"The twins?" Raleigh interrupted. Tendo's words bringing one of his many questions to the forefront of his mind. He was silenced with a hand though as Tendo continued.

"The twins are Angel's younger siblings. Anyway, Hansen and Mike Reese were friends so, Mike Reese was moved to each support team as Hansen changed Jaegers. The Reese kids grew up in the shatterdomes with Chuck Hansen. Angel started out as a runner for the Jaeger crews but started the real work after only a few months and has been doing ever since, moving up the ranks quickly. Mike Reese died a few years back, radiation poisoning like most of the men who worked with the Mark 1s. Since then, Angel has been moving between shatterdomes while raising the twins. All three were tested for and found Drift Capable, but Angel has never been compatible with another pilot. She and Pentecost gave up testing after a while when her Jaeger knowledge became too valuable to put her into a conn-pod. The twins have been compatable since they were nine, and have been running simulations since then." Tendo stopped talking for a moment to catch his breath and break into the vodka again, leaving Raleigh to reflect.

He could vaguely remember rumors of a pair of twin protégées that started just before Knifehead's attack and his departure from the Corps. The timing fit. And now, Mako and Nikki's conversation earlier made sense. Nikki was fighting to keep the twins out of a Jaeger while everyone tried to put them in one. Her fear was understandable considering she had lost everyone else to the Kaiju in some way.

"What's up with the nickname you and Herc use? 'Angel?'" Raleigh heard his words before he realized what he was asking. He mentally shrugged and waited for an answer now that the question was out. He used the time to refill his glass.

"The full one is Angel of the Shatterdomes. It's pretentious but it stuck given her skill. Most crew and techs use it. Nikki is just so….basic. Angel fits her personality in a twisted way." Tendo informed him, screwing up his face as he used Nikki's real name.

"Angel…." Raleigh rolled the idea around in his head. "Where did it come from?" He could sense a story behind the name. No nickname like that stuck without a very specific reason.

"It was actually Chuck Hansen who came up with it. A few years back, Striker Eureka was badly damaged and there was a fair amount of talk of scrapping it and moving the Hansens into Vulcan Specter. It was Nikki who planned and succeeded in the repairs. Chuck called her that as a joke one night when he was out drinking with some of the support crew and it just stuck, especially after her work on Cherno Alpha and Tacit Ronin. She keeps things going long after they should have dropped. Angel and Chuck are also…" Tendo stopped and hesitated before corrected himself. "Were also close."

"How close?" Raleigh prodded, leaning forward in his seat.

The technician shrugged. "Not sure. Some bets were made and rumors circulated but there wasn't ever any proof one way or another which is hard to do in such a close environment like the shatterdomes.

Silence fell again as the reminder of Chuck Hansen required quite a bit more alcohol. He might have been an asshole, but he was still mourned by the Jaeger Corps.

"So the twins…" Raleigh trailed off, silently asking for more details.

"They're sixteen and as their legal guardian, Angel has the ability to stop their official enrollment in what is left of the Academy. They want to do it though and will join the minute they are adults. They've been running simulations for longer than pilots were in Jaegers. They are very very good." Tendo hesitated then continued. "Only a few people know this, but if Marshall Pentecost was unable to convince you to come back into the program, the twins were his second choice."

Raleigh's brows knit in confusion. "How? If they're underage…."

"He had the paper work all ready done to invoke a technical draft of anyone with Drift Compatability and Jaeger training." Tendo explained.

"Wouldn't that just affect me, Mako, and Nikki too then?"

"Yes, but Stacker had it outlined so the pilots who willingly joined the draft would be stationed in Jaegers first. The twins would have automatically and the draft would stop Angel from interfering."

"Why not put Mako and Nikki together?"

"That was tried about a year ago, the simulation ended in a disaster. Both killed, Jaeger destroyed, the entire sim city lost to the Kaiju. They're very similar in most ways but when it comes to combat, very different. Plus with Marshall Pentecost being so protective of Mako…"

"The twins were next in line." Raleigh finished Tendo's sentence for him. "So if I hadn't agreed to reenlist Nikki's siblings would have been in Gipsy."

Tendo nodded and refilled his glass again.

"Well Shit." Raleigh copied the LOCCENT officer's actions. "I get why she almost ignores me then."

"She's glad you're here but you almost cost her the twins." Tendo confirmed Raleigh's thoughts.

"So where are they now?"

"She sent them inland as soon as we got word that Pentecost was bringing you in. She got them away before you landed and the Marshall could block her. He would have tried to keep them in the dome as a backup." Tendo answered. "It was going to be a clusterfuck no matter what." The technician starred at the ceiling.

"Think she'll warm up to me?" Raleigh asked curiously. He liked Nikki despite how little they actually interacted.

"Depends on what happens with the twins. Marshall Hansen is still pushing to put them in one of the new Jaegers."

"That's what her meeting with the Marshall was about today?"

"Yup."

"What do you think will happen?"

"No clue."

Raleigh went for the bottle of vodka and realized it was empty. He settled from discarding his glass and leaned back in the chair. Across from him, Tendo was sunk into his chair; legs sprawled out in front of him, empty glass balanced precariously on the edge of one chair arm.

"Well Shit." The Jaeger pilot reiterated his former statement, accurately summarizing the entire story.

"Yup." Was the technician's only response.

…..

**Does putting random bolded stuff down here make you more likely to review? Just asking. **


	5. Chapter 5

**So in my last author's note, I mentioned how I was sad that Chapter 3 hadn't gotten any reviews, published it then realized that a review had just come in. ClawStrike590, thank you for reviewing and I'm sorry I have bad timing when publishing. Thank you to everyone else who reviewed, followed, favorite etc!**

…**.**

Raleigh made it to the gym to spar with Mako the next morning despite every desire to stay in bed and not move. The pair spent almost two hours in the empty gym, lost in the rhythm of the movements and the steady tapping of the staffs against each other. Afterwards, Mako left to discuss the newest satellite data with Hansen and Hermann. Newton was supposedly in isolation away from the shatterdome until the new Jaeger was completed.

Once he had showered, Raleigh spent several hours reviewing the blueprints Tendo had emailed him the day before. The Jaeger designations and specifics ran together, the more scientific aspects were almost gibberish to the pilot who had a very limited understanding of nuclear reactors, metal alloys, and weight distribution requirements. He focused on the stats regarding speed, strength, stability and on the weapon designs for each Jaeger. He had more combat experience than anyone left in the program other than Herc and used that vital knowledge to analyze what tools would be most valuable in the event of a future Kaiju assault.

When his legs fell asleep for the third time, Raleigh knew he needed a break. Leaving behind the documents, he left to wander the halls. He had decided to memorize the labyrinth before the Green Beast simulation was up and running. He could rely on Mako for almost anything but being his tour guide was not one of the options.

Eventually, he made his way to the main Jaeger bay. It was haunting to see the empty spots that once held Cherno, Crimson, and Striker but his eyes were immediately drawn to Gipsy Danger's former home. He was amazed by how fast the rough form of Green Beast had gone up. Massive scaffolding surrounded the headless humanoid while heavy cables held smaller parts that waited for installation. The form was rough, anyone who saw it would know it wasn't an original Jaeger but it could function. On closer examination, Raleigh realized a few of the cables were rigging that held harnessed workers that were working several hundred feet in the air with plasma torches and massive saws. Lost in his appraisal of the new Jaeger, he didn't notice Herc Hansen until Max bumped his head into the younger pilot's leg, demanding attention. Crouching to pet the dog, Raleigh glanced up at the Marshall who was watching the workers suspended along the chest cavity.

"It's something isn't it?" Herc spoke after a moment. Raleigh readily agreed, having never seen this side of a Jaeger before. He and Yancy had met Gipsy Danger for the first time when she had arrived straight out of the box at the Anchorage Shatterdome. The sheer size of the Beast combined with the scaffolding and the army of support crew that was working on every aspect of it was hard to absorb.

"Angel's pissed at me." Herc added after a few minutes of watching the construction. "I pushed too hard on the twins. I'm guessing you've been read into the situation?" He glanced over at the Ranger who nodded; deciding that the vodka fueled conversation with Tendo was better left unelaborated on. "She's started calling me Marshall. Hasn't ever done that before." Herc let out a breath and gestured to one of the riggers. "She'll put herself up there in a heartbeat but I mention moving the twins into a Jaeger conn-pod and she threatens to quit and ship the twins to France."

Raleigh stayed silent, knowing that the older man needed to voice his thoughts aloud to one of the only people who understood while in the relative anonymity of the bustling construction bay. Here, Herc could think, just for a moment he was still a Ranger rather than the Marshall that controlled it all. There were so few people who understood the costs of the Jaeger program on its pilots and officers. Raleigh realized he was one of a handful of people who could relate to the Marshall at this point. But even as he acknowledged their similarities, he knew he was nothing compared to the man next to him. Hercules Hansen had been a legend long before Raleigh and Yancy had even thought of piloting a Jaeger much less entered the Academy. The Marshall had successfully piloted every generation of Jaegers against Kaiju and was still standing here today no matter what had been thrown at him. He had lost his wife, Pentecost, every co-pilot he had Drifted with until he had been forced to allow his own son into the conn-pod with him just to ensure the safety of their home. And then he had lost his son too. Herc was a legend because no one in the world could come close to doing everything he had to protect the people who needed it.

After what he hoped was enough time, Raleigh offered his opinion. "I could try talking to her if you want. I get her fear and the selfish aspect of it. I originally left for similar reasons. Plus she might not feel as betrayed hearing it from me rather than from you or Choi." Hansen glanced at him again and after a moment nodded. With that, every miniscule sign of sadness, exhaustion, and indecision vanished from the Marshall and he appeared every bit the fearless leader of the Corps. "I originally came over to let you know that there is a video conference in two hours with Pan Pacific government officials regarding the intel Mako has been so busy with. Your attendance isn't mandatory but encouraged."

Several thumps and the creak of metal came from the Jaeger construction just beyond the pair followed by yelling voices. "We best move." The Marshall tugged on Max's leash and Raleigh followed as the workers around the base and in the scaffolding scattered away from the Green Beast. A bellow of "Clear!" echoed through the bay before being followed by a falling chuck of corroded metal and shredded wires the size of a tank. Cables shrieked as they were unwound in a burst of speed and sparks. The discarded piece was steered through a path clear of scaffolding by a system of guide cables and counter weights that struggled to stopped the mass from free falling to the floor. It landed with a thud that shook the nearest scaffolding and sent Max into a barking frenzy.

As workers began detaching the guide cables and counterweights from the discarded metal, Nikki and the handful of other workers who had been cutting the piece out, began repelling down the side of the Jaeger. The group landed a hundred yards away from the two men. Ground workers swarmed them, detaching harnesses and collecting plasma torches and chainsaws. Nikki watched the teams as she detached her own plasma torch from her back and freed herself from the Green Beast before loosening her hair from its tight bun and running a greasy hand through it before retying it into a ponytail. Raleigh realized now why her hair seemed to change colors. Yancy had done the same thing when he went through his car building stage years ago. He would forget about the metal grease and oil on his hands and run it through his hair.

Now noticing the pair of pilots, Nikki said something to the now departing team and began walking over. Reaching them, she nodded at the men then bent to pet Max. "How's my boy!" Max answered with a bark, panting as Raleigh saw the technician genuinely smile for the first time.

"Angel…" Hansen's voice sent it away though and Nikki stood. "We're ahead of schedule Marshall." Her face was blank as she spoke. "We've cleared out the last of the damaged circuitry and are looking at a week and a half runtime rather than the original two if we continue at this pace. We've found a slight corrosion issue which is why we had to contain it and remove that chunk." She gestured at the rubble that was being loaded onto a flatbed with a hand before she continued. "The team for the simulator has almost got everything in place for…" A second creak echoed through the bay, whipping Nikki's head around and making the pilots jerk their heads up

A third shriek, longer and higher pitch followed. "CLEAR!" Nikki's horrified shout bounced through the scaffolding, sending men diving for cover. A smaller chuck of metal, the size of a small car, detached from the same general region as the first and began to fall. It smashed through the first two layers of scaffolding without slowing and sent connected scaffolding in either direction swaying to impact with the Jaeger body. As it punched through the remaining floors of scaffolding before it hit the ground, metal and wood debris was sent through the air and the entire scaffolding structure around the Green Beast seemed to quiver dangerously. Nikki was running towards the Jaeger before the incident fully registered to the workers on the ground.

In the confusion that followed, Raleigh could hear Nikki shouting for answers, and demanding to know if anyone had been hit. Screams could be heard from the damaged scaffolding; almost a sixth of it had been destroyed or damaged. Support crews streamed away from the chaos as their supervisors struggled to control the crowd. It was almost half an hour, during with Herc and Raleigh both waded through the crushed scaffolding to help ensure no one had been trapped, before it could be confirmed that no one had been directly hit by the falling metal. There were numerous injuries though; one worker had lost his foot when a cable trailing the falling debris had wrapped around it and almost pulled him from the seventh floor of the scaffolding. It had been a quick thinking coworker who had taken his foot off but saved him from the fatal fall. Almost a dozen others had been hit by flying debris and required immediate treatment. The entire bay was cleared of all workers within an hour and a half after the incident except a single team of five who began systematically reviewing the rest of the scaffolding and the Jaeger for any other weakened areas.

In the first calm moment since the freefall, Nikki rejoined the Rangers. "What happened?" Marshall Hansen asked after a moment during which they all regarded the suddenly dangerous form of the Jaeger.

"I don't fucking know." Anger and exhaustion fought for dominance in Nikki's single sentence. "I checked the damn supports myself before we separated the original segment and repelled down. I know every single one was secure." She wiped a hand along her face, smearing grease and what might be blood along her cheek. The movement slid her sleeve down and the blue tattoo that wrapped around her arm drew Raleigh's gaze. It somehow seemed far darker. "I'm going up in a few minutes to review the situation. The scaffolding is secure but I don't trust anyone up there in the harnesses right now. I'll have a report sent to you by tomorrow but this means we're back on the original two week timetable."

Marshall Hansen nodded. "Be careful." Nikki returned the gesture and walked away, beckoning to the sole support team member who wasn't in the lower portion of the scaffolding who assisted her into a harness.

Herc turned his attention to Raleigh. "We need to go. The conference is about to start and they need to finish securing the bay." The younger pilot shrugged and followed.

….. …. … …..

An hour later, Raleigh found himself standing next to Tendo behind Mako and Marshall Hansen who were addressing an assembled group of disgruntled officials, each on their own screen. Raleigh and Marshall were still dusty and sweaty from the incident in the bay and had forced to listen to each official take their turn in rambling before Mako had actually been able to begin her briefing.

"From the regions each signature has appeared in, we now believe that the rifts created by these creatures require water and cannot be opened on land, a small mercy under the circumstances. It also seems that the depth ocean in each case matters. Each source has been at least 5500 meters below the surface. We do not know that this means, but considering it is true in each of the eleven cases, it cannot be coincidence. Our scientific team have hypothesized that the water acts as an insulator and contains the rift energy in a central location rather than allowing it to dissipate." Mako read off the tablet held in the crook of her arm.

"Eleven?" Raleigh whispered to Choi who nodded. "Two this morning and one an hour ago." Hansen's quick backwards glance stopped any further commentary.

"Given the regions the rifts have opened in and the increasing number, we believe that, for lack of a better explanation, the Kaiju creators are now scouting out our world." Mako told the bureaucrats. Each one express their opinions at once till the Hong Kong delegate gained prominence and the others fell silent.

"What does this mean for the Jaeger program and the threat factor Marshall Hansen?"

"It means we are moving forward at all possible speed but despite the motivation, we will not have a functioning Jaeger for at least two weeks. I would recommend that all military bases in the regions near one of the rift points be placed on alert with nuclear ordinances at their disposal. "Herc spoke evenly but was interrupted by a second outcry. Clearing his throat caused the screens to fall silent. "I am aware that the bombing defense is not one we want to return to, but the next rift that opens could have a Kaiju come through. We currently have no way of knowing. As we all are aware, other than Jaegers, nothing short of nuclear weapons has come close to stopping a Kaiju assault."

With mass complaints, the men in suits reluctantly agreed to the plan but pushed for the Green Beast to be completed sooner and signed off. After each screen had gone blank, Raleigh walked forward and wrapped an arm around Mako's shoulders. She relaxed into him slightly and unlocked her knees. Tendo moved to shut down the conference system, muttering under his breath as he did so.

"What was that Officer Choi?" Herc asked as he rubbed his temples, eyes closed.

"I said that I didn't think we had to worry about funding anymore." Tendo said after a moment, earning a sharp laugh from the Marshall and a grin from Mako.

…. …. …. …

**Look! More Random Bolded Stuff! Go Review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Thank you to all the people who reviewed, favorite, followed, etc! **

**A recent review asked me how I can get chapters up so fast, basically the plot bunnies willnt get out of my head and let me sleep till they've been written down. I've been two or three roughly outlined chapters ahead of my publishing which helps me develop the story and lets me sleep. Everyone wins!**

**Please review and let me know what you think!**

…**.. ….. …**

Raleigh woke to pounding on his door. Cracking an eye open he listened for the alarm. If it was a Kaiju, the alarm would be sounding. He hesitated, not wanting to move from the warmth of his bed. The ground below was so cold. He glanced at the tiny clock next to his bed. It was just after two in the morning, he cursed softly as the pounding continued unabated. Raleigh sighed before rolling out, wincing at the chill that crept up legs. Moving slowly he cracked open the door. "Wha..." Mako stood there, arms wrapped around her chest as if fighting to hold something in. Raleigh was instantly awake. He recognized the sign of a nightmare when he saw it. He held out a hand and she took it without hesitation. He drew her into his small room and shut the door. "C'mon." He wrapped his arms around her shaking body, resting his chin on her head as she buried herself against him. At times like this, human contact was all that mattered.

He didn't know how long they stood there. It didn't matter. "He was screaming." Mako's voice was so soft he barely heard her words. "Shhh. I'm here." "I felt him die." Her voice broke and Raleigh realized who she had heard screaming. He had simply assumed the nightmare was about Stacker or the Rift battle but it wasn't which made it inherently worse. One of the worst parts of the Drift was the flow between the pilots which meant you no longer had to deal with your own worst memories. Everything your partner felt, you did too. Mako wasn't crying for herself or for Stacker. It was Yancy. This was something his co-pilot had no experience with; no sims could tell her how to react and no Marshall to guide her. Holding her close, Raleigh pulled her to the bed and wrapped an arm around her. "It's okay. It will all be okay." The words were a lie and they both knew it at an essential level, but the hope that they would one day be true was what kept the Rangers going. Keeping an arm around his co-pilot who had automatically curled up against him, Raleigh snagged his blanket from the floor with his foot and pulled it up to cover them both. Within a few minutes, Mako stopped shaking and her breaths became even as she fell asleep.

…. …..

A few hours later, Raleigh headed towards the mess hall. He had left Mako sleeping. She was comfortable and there was no reason not to let her rest while they could afford it. His sleep had been less easy. It wasn't that he had slept badly it was…. He couldn't put his finger on the detail other than it was just different. He had been spared his own nightmares but it was the first time he hadn't slept in a room alone since Yancy's death. It was strange. Simply being close to his Drift partner had given Raleigh the deepest sleep in years but he was still restless, disliking the implication that he could be moving on or even forgetting about his brother.

Walking into the nearly empty mess hall, Raleigh appreciated the quiet; this was one of the few times of day that the Shatterdome was still, not buzzing with crews, techs, and officers. Though, he had to admit, Hong Kong had nothing on the Icebox or the other Shatterdomes in their heydays. Scanning the room, he noticed Nikki sitting at an empty table. Walking over, he sat across from her with a thump. She had a half eaten tray of food pushed aside and two empty mugs. All her attention was on the tablet she was sketching on; she didn't look up till Raleigh leaned across the table to get a look at the screen. "Whatcha working on?" Nikki tapped the display once and looked up. "You like begin obnoxious don't you?" Raleigh shrugged, unable to completely deny it. It was amusing. He was surprised though when Nikki spun the tablet to face him and pushed it across the table with a sigh. "Green Beast weapon designs. I didn't have time to finish them yesterday under the circumstances. I ended up spending five hours in the harness last night going over it, double checking that every piece was secure…" She trailed off and looked at him, considering something. "I've got a meeting with the Marshall in half an hour. Why don't you come with? You'll hear all the details eventually anyway." Raleigh grinned and nodded before hesitating. "This isn't some plot to get me to go get food while you slip away and go back to ignoring my existence is it?" Nikki rolled her eyes. "You have seen through my nefarious plans." She told him with a straight face before glancing down at the tablet. "I'm not leaving this table for twenty minutes. Whether or not you eat is entire up to you. "Here" She handed him one of her empty mugs. "Get me coffee."

When Raleigh returned to the table a few minutes later, Nikki didn't look up; her only movement was to grab the mug of coffee when Raleigh slid it over to her. "So…." Raleigh waited to gauge Nikki's reaction to the interruption, expecting anything from having her second mug thrown at him to being completely ignored. He was surprised when she looked up after a moment. "Yeah?" "I've been hearing a lot about these twins…" He broke off when Nikki rolled her eyes. If he was going to help Herc convince her to back off, she needed to give him details. He couldn't push. "I'm guessing Choi told you." He nodded and she sighed before looking back down at the tablet. "They'll be back in a few days. I'll introduce you." Nikki told him shortly as she began changing designs on the tablet.

Just as Raleigh was about to begin questioning Nikki again, Mako slid into the seat next to him. "Good morning." She told them both as she began eating. Raleigh wanted to ask how Mako was but it wasnot the right time or place and he couldn't press Nikki with Mako there. Both of his planned conversations had to be private. The trio sat in silence for a few minutes before Nikki stood and collected her stuff. "I'd better be going. You still coming?" She asked Raleigh with a glance. He stood to follow then hesitated, glancing at Mako who waved him on. "I'm being taken to where Newton is working. You would be bored. Someone else can entertain you for a while." Nikki let out a snort. "Thanks Mori." Nikki began walking and Mako returned to her food before Raleigh could protest to either statement.

…..

Entering the Marshall's office, Raleigh and Nikki could see Herc, buried under a desk full of paperwork. Max, who had been dozing under a chair sat up as they entered. The bulldog trotted over to Nikki who bent to pet him for a moment before nudging him over to Raleigh for attention. As she stood, she pulled a small stack of papers from the folder she carried under her ever present tablet. "My official report regarding yesterday's incident." She told Herc as she placed it on his desk. The Marshall ignored it and stood with a grim look, cracking his back with the movement. He glanced over at Raleigh before walking to a wide window that filled most of one wall. "And unofficially?" He asked, looking out at Victoria Bay. Nikki settled into a chair and put her feet up on a second one. Raleigh, recognizing this was an unofficial meeting, stayed on the floor to pet Max. He didn't have a part in the discussion; Nikki just thought he needed to know the information which is why she had asked him to come.

"I don't have any answers you will like. I spent 5 hours examining every inch of the area the debris detached from. We had cleared out all the corroded metal and wiring with the first drop because we couldn't fuse the new arm in until the damage was contained. That's why it was necessary despite the inherent risk of the dead drop. The excess fell because of two "tendon" wires in the shoulder socket that were severed but shouldn't have been." Nikki explained.

"I thought you secured everything before repelling down?" Hansen glanced away from the window as he looked for confirmation.

Nikki nodded. "I did." She hesitated. "It is possible that I made a mistake and missed the severed cables." She grimaced as the words left her mouth.

"That doesn't sound like a mistake you would make." Herc stated after a moment.

"It's not. Out of the six people who were up there for the removal, four of us had torches. It could have been done by any of the other three who had torches. I know I didn't make the cuts, I just don't know how I missed it. "

"You think it was sabotage." Herc turned back to the window as he spoke.

Nikki nodded slowly. "We reviewed the wiring system three times before we went up and those are some of my best men. I don't want it to be sabotage but I don't see how it possibly could have been a mistake."

Raleigh thought back to the day before and the actions just before the second segment fell. "Did you make sure everything else was secure before or after the first segment was dislodged?"

Herc and Nikki both glanced down to where Raleigh was crouched next to the bulldog. "Before. We had to make sure nothing could be pulled down with it. We made sure every else was in place then cut the last support that held it, it fell immediately under the tension of the guide cables and counterweights." Nikki replied slowly, considering his question as he spoke again. "And then you turned to watch it fall." Nikki nodded and seemed to realize his thoughts. "The fall time of the first would have given someone enough time to cut the cables on the second piece. The guide cables' screeching is louder up top, we wouldn't notice the sound of a plasma torch being relit." Horror washed over Nikki's face. "It really was sabotage."

"Fuck." Herc voiced their thoughts after a moment.

"Why though?" Something seemed to break in Nikki's face. Raleigh realized she had just lost the trust she had placed in some of her best crew members and was now unsure who she could trust. "There's never been any incidents of sabotage at other domes has there?" She looked to Herc for answers.

"No. There was an incident back in 2018 in Sydney with an electrical fire but we thought the accusations were just paranoia. There was no reason for it to be sabotage! We damn well don't have mini Kaiju running around the dome with plasma torches and there's no way people want to be killed by the creatures then or now."

"So we know it was sabotage or blatant stupidity and we have no proof either way or an explanation for why. Wonderful." Nikki summed the situation up.

"Do we need to slow production more so we make sure nothing else happens?" Hansen continued after a moment. Nikki shook her head. "I have the four suspects and can guarantee there wasn't someone else up there. We can't afford to slow down but I'll ensure someone is with them at all times around the Jaeger without being noticeable." She ran a hand through her hair and swore. "We just can't have it easy can we?" Standing after a moment, Nikki headed towards the door. "I'll keep you updated."

Herc nodded. "Be careful Angel." Nikki waved a hand in acknowledgement and disappeared through the doorway.

Herc moved back behind his desk and Raleigh stood moving to leave too but was stopped by Herc gesturing for him to stay. "What do you think?"

Raleigh shrugged and leaned against the wall. "It's a fucked up situation but we're still out of options. I think she can handle it." Herc nodded and rearranged the papers on his desk. "Have you made any headway regarding the twins?" Raleigh grimaced slightly. "Barely. She mentioned something about them being back in a few days but it wasn't the right time for me to push." "That's news." Hansen said gruffly as he pulled a thick folder form between to stacks of paper, sending one sliding to the floor. Max immediately trotted over to sniff at the avalanche and sneezed. He held out the folder. "I need you to go through this. These are the bios of the twenty pilot candidates. We can't restart the Academy 'cause we've got no one to teach other than me, you, and Mako. Hell, at this rate the twins might be teaching before they're in an actual Jaeger. The candidates will be in the sparring room tomorrow morning. They're all Drift capable, but unmatched. Your job is to weed out the unsuitable ones and start matching them up if you can. Mako should be there to assist as long as she is back."

Raleigh looked up from the bio he had started scanning immediately. "Where is she anyway? She said something about meeting with Newton at breakfast but Tendo said something about Newton being moved out of the dome for security reasons."

The Marshall nodded. "We've got Newton stationed at a remote base working on reverse engineering the rifts. Now that so many are appearing, we have decent amount of information regarding how we think they open and close. In theory, if we can get a rift of our own open, we take away the Kaiju DNA requirement, send a few tons of nuclear ordinance in, and blow the bastards back where they came from."

"Huh." Raleigh liked that plan. "Why is he out of the dome though? Shouldn't he be with Hermann?"

"If we need more information on the Kaiju creators, Newton has agreed to attempt drifting with a Kaiju brain segment again. We don't care if they know about the rift plan because they don't seem to have control over the rifts other than to move them and control when they open and close. We can't risk Newton passing on any information regarding the Green Beast or that Jaegers are going back into production though. They think we've lost all our Jaegers and while we technically have, the element of surprise with Green Beast and the details of the new ones is one of our most valuable resources right now."

Raleigh nodded, the plan was sound.

"Plus isolating Newton saves the entire Shatterdome a few headaches." Herc added. "Should've done it years ago."

Raleigh tapped the folder. "So train the pilot candidates, review Jaeger designs, and start running Green Beast sims ASAP. Anything else Marshall?" He asked with a grin.

Herc sighed. "Get out of my office and go work Becket."

…

**Bold stuff trying to convince you to review this chapter and doing a very bad job at it. You should take pity on it and review despite the weak attempt. **


	7. Chapter 7

**This chapter is a bit introduction and a little bit filler but it's all necessary and there for a reason. I promise!**

**Newton will be back soon for those who are wondering and he's been busy. Plus, the story's about to expand out into the entire world rather than just the Hong Kong Shatterdome.**

**Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed. Every little bit motivates me and that's what gets the chapters written. Let me what you think!**

…. …

The next few days passed quickly in the Shatterdome, Mako was around most of the time, but disappeared into meetings more often than Raleigh had to. She willingly let Raleigh run point on the Academy program, citing that she was too busy to deal with more than one over-eager pilot at a time. The program was down to seventeen men and women, one had been injured and Raleigh had removed two who he recognized as unsuitable based on their personalities. He knew the Corps could neither afford to be choosy when selecting pilots or lax enough to put pilots in who could cost them a Jaeger.

Breakfast with Nikki and Mako had become a habit. Both women were prone to ignoring him in favor of their work; Nikki to the point of even ignoring her food on a regular basis. Mako hadn't had any more nightmares, at least ones bad enough to send her to his room, and he too had been spared the worst of his own dreams. The pair of Rangers had daily sparring sessions and with the Green Beast sim scheduled to be completed any time, their bond was stronger than ever. Raleigh was almost shocked by the ease with which he had fallen into the routines. Overall though, the tension in the dome was almost palpable. The intel on the baby rifts had leaked out to the general public. There had been rioting along every Pacific coast as everyone was waiting for an attack. Green Beast needed at least another week before it would be combat ready though Nikki had lived up to her nickname and produced the miracle of cutting the wiring time in half for the Jaeger. There had been no more sabotage attempts and crews were now working around the clock on the Beast. Tendo and Nikki had both practically moved into the construction bay in their attempts to oversee every single action taken by the crew of more than a hundred. Raleigh was beginning to worry for their collective sanity.

Raleigh was brought out of his thoughts by steady knocking on his door and realized he was late for a Jaeger design meeting. "It's open!" Mako cracked the door as Raleigh fumbled for his tablet and notes.

She smiled at his disarray. "We're behind schedule. Nikki will be annoyed." The pair was hurrying through the halls, making it to the usual conference room just on schedule but somehow still before the two technicians who came in, mid argument, a few minutes later.

"We need replace the right support struts!" Tendo's annoyance was plain as he ignored the Rangers.

"We do that and we lose a day on the entire right side and the conn-pod wiring completion is delayed. Again!" Nikki's temper matched Choi's as they both sat.

"We don't do it they will snap if they're hit from above!"

Nikki held up a protesting hand. "Only IF they are hit from above at the precise angle! Those odds are remote and they would cost us two days of Beast being grounded!"

Raleigh glanced at Mako when the two showed no signs of stopping. She shrugged, apparently leaving action up to him. "You two done or should we leave and give you some privacy?"

They both turned their ire on him but before either could lash out; Mako stepped in as the voice of reason. "Shall we begin?" Tendo nodded, relinquishing the battle smoothly but Nikki almost snarled before she caved and relaxed slightly. It appeared some technicians were handling the strain better than others.

Tendo quickly started up the display, projecting the various possible Jaeger designs into the air. They were meeting to decide which four would be put into production after Gipsy 2.0.

"So…" Raleigh broke the silence. "Thoughts?"

"402." Mako went straight to the point. At the sound of the numbers, the display cycled through until Jaeger Design 402 was enlarged. Raleigh silently agreed with his partner, 402 had been on his list too. Its design was similar to the Mark 1 Romeo Blue: slender with lighter weaponry than other proposed models but it had the highest speed stats. Too many previous Jaegers had fallen because they were too slow. 402 also had plasma cannons on each shoulder, retractable carrier rail blades on each arm, heated spikes on each hand, and a spiked ridge along the reinforced conn-pod as a last ditch weapon. Tendo nodded in agreement and glanced at Nikki who hesitated then held up 'don't look at me hands.' "I've designed them, I'll build them. You're the experts when it comes to what you want in the field."

"397." A heavier Jaeger who was slower but was predicted to take any hit and stay stable using newly designed shock absorbers and wider feet, it would be ideal for taking on any Kaiju category three or higher using its size and weapons array. It had chest rockets, shoulder cannons, and plasma cannons set into each hand.

"445." Specializing in water combat with a sleeker design and water tight body, conn-pod, and reactor. Its weapons were planned to use the water around it, either super heated or cooled. The design features that would make it the fastest in Jaeger in the water would be razor sharp as a last final choice weapon.

"509" "Not an option." Nikki quickly refused the option, confusing Raleigh.

"But." 509 had been Raleigh's favorite of the potential designs. It had the highest overall stats and a conn-pod design not seen in any other proposed Jaeger.

"No. It wasn't supposed to be in the file. It is nowhere near complete and therefore not an option." Nikki was back to glaring at Tendo who had been responsible for sending the pilots the designs. The other technician pointedly ignored her. Just as things were getting tense, a string of beeps echoed from Nikki's jeans, breaking her concentration as she silenced her phone.

"381 then." Mako quickly changed the topic. 381 was similar to Gipsy's new design, a strong combo of strength, speed, and a variety of weapons.

"So Gipsy 2.0, 402, 397, 445, and 381. I'll notify the Marshall and sent in the order to begin production with Gipsy Danger. If we're done, I've got to get back before someone tries to blow up Green Beast." Nikki left without waiting for confirmation.

"What was that about? What's the big deal with 509?" Raleigh asked Tendo after a moment. Mako's attentiveness told him that she was confused by the sudden anger also. "509 is her pet project. She's been working on it for almost two years when she has the extra time. I'm the only one other than Pentecost who has seen the basic design proposal. I really didn't mean to include it. I must have put it in the wrong file on my hard drive." Tendo explained quickly.

Raleigh hesitated, unsure of how to voice his concerns. "Can Nikki handle this? She seems slightly…unstable."

Tendo shrugged. "I don't know. She went from bouncing between domes to running every Jaeger bay left."

"Why is she in charge then?" Raleigh pushed the issue. He liked Nikki but if her inability to handle the stress jeopardized the Jaeger Corps, she had to be removed from the position.

"There's no one left. We've got a decent amount of specialists left for the factory construction elements of Jaegers but maintenance and bay functions are an entirely different thing. No one even considered something like Green Beast before she did. Anyone who worked on anything before the Mark 4's is either dying from the radiation exposure or already dead. You saw what it did to Pentecost."

Tendo broke off at Mako's sharp breath. "Sorry." Tendo hesitated and looked at the display that still rotated slowly.

"I'm in the same boat." The LOCCENT Officer admitted. "Becket, I went from deploying just Gipsy, to the entire Icebox, to the entire Corps in less than two years because there is no one left. Shutting down the program originally and moving it here to Hong Kong gave people a chance to escape. Workers, crews, officers all left because they couldn't take the responsibility or just didn't want it. We were at half the staff we needed for Gipsy Danger and Striker Eureka, much less Cherno Alpha and Crimson Typhoon."

"I didn't know it was this bad." Mako's calm voice interrupted as Tendo took a breath.

"Marshall Pentecost kept it from you. He knew you would have pushed harder to be put in a Jaeger or to be allowed into the bays full time. He wanted to protect you." Tendo told her carefully. "I'm sorry you heard it like this but you both needed to know how bad it is. The only think holding the Corps together the last few months has been blood and desperation. Now that we have the funding back it should get better but anyone coming in will have little to no experience. We have to rebuild the Jaeger Corps from the ground up all over again without anyone knowing how weak it is or else the rioting will spread and death tolls will rise without the Kaiju even reappearing."

The two pilots and the officer sat in silence for several minutes. Mako and Raleigh struggled to come to terms with the news while Tendo slowly gathered his equipment and notes. He stood with an empty grin. "Well now that that's all out, good news time. I meant to tell you earlier but Green Beast's simulation is ready if you two are free for a few hours and ready to Drift again."

Raleigh glanced at Mako who nodded in agreement. "Let's do it." He said with a grin. He was more than ready to get back in a Jaeger even if it was only a simulation. Violence, even if it was only a sim, was a good stress reliever. Tendo returned the grin and radioed into LOCCENT command to have the Drift suit crews meet the pilots immediately and prep the simulation.

….

Five hours later, the Mako and Raleigh were having their Drivesuits removed as they discussed the results. They had run seven simulated battles piloting Green Beast. The first two had been complete defeats as they struggled to adjust to the slower body, mismatched joints, and different weapons. The third was a wash; they defeated the Kaiju but lost most of the city they were defending. They progressed from there; the other four were all technical successes with fewer civilian casualties and monetary damage in each one. The longer they were in the Jaeger and in the Drift, the more comfortable the pair became. The sim wasn't perfect though, and there were more than a few variables that would not come into play until Green Beast was in a real battle, but the odds were more than encouraging for the techs and officers.

Eventually, the pair was released after the sim, analysis of the results with Tendo, and a debriefing with the Marshall. What had started out as a simple test had turned into an almost nine hour ordeal. As they walked back to their quarters, Mako was as serene as ever despite her exhaustion while Raleigh chose to ignore his own aching muscles and pounding head. He was practically bouncing off the walls as he continued analyzing specific moves that worked well in Green Beast for the third time. Mako would have been annoyed if it wasn't so endearing.

"Ms. Mori!" The call came from behind them, turning the pair of pilots.

A woman was walking down the hall quickly to catch up with them. She was similar in size and build to Mako with wavy brown hair that fought to escape the metal clip that kept it in place. She wore civilian clothes with a pair of combat boots.

"Mia!" Mako smiled genuinely and hugged the woman immediately. Raleigh was surprised by the sudden emotion from his co-pilot considering her general reserved nature. As the two separated, Raleigh realized the new woman was more of a girl. Her body was built to handle the pressures of an adult's life but her face was still that of a teenager.

Mako half turned and gestured to Raleigh. "Mia this is Raleigh.."

"Beckett!" Mia held out a hand with a wide smile as she finished Mako's sentence for her. "It's so cool to be meeting you! Xander and I studied you and your brother a few years ago and again when Mako was restoring Gipsy Danger." Raleigh couldn't help but smile at the teen's unbridled enthusiasm. Her personality had grown increasingly rare in recent years. Many people could match it when provoked by certain things, like he was with Jaegers and Kaiju combat, but to be so…alive was unique.

"This is one of the elusive twins." Mako told him, her smile still in place but with exhaustion creeping into the eyes.

"Yup! My other half is wandering around here somewhere." Mia added with a small laugh. A crack appeared in her smile as she continued though. "We got back almost an hour ago and can't find Nikki anywhere. We've tried calling her a bunch but haven't gotten response."

Raleigh could see the concern building in the teen. He glanced at Mako whose body was wilting with every passing moment and the worried teen who was trying so hard to hide it. Unconsciously, he decided to postpone his own rest. He knew Mako had never Drifted continuously for so long and mental and physical strain from the simulations was heavy on her. "I bet she's still working on Green Beast. C'mon." He gestured down the hall with his head. "I'll walk with you. I've got something to ask her anyway." He could see the relief wash through Mako only because he was looking carefully for it.

"Are you sure?" Mia was hesitant. "I heard a tech say you had just finished Drifting a little while ago."

"Nah I'm good. I'll catch up with you later Mako." Mia agreed and began walking down the hall with him. Raleigh glanced back and Mako mouthed a silent 'Thank You' before turning and continuing the walk back to their quarters.

"So Green Beast is the new Jaeger?" Mia asked after a few quiet minutes of walking, her enthusiasm back in full force, all concern well hidden.

Raleigh nodded. "Yeah, she's a bit of a mess but enough for us to work with for now."

"Nikki hasn't told us anything other than that construction had started but I can't wait to see her. Xander and I..." Mia broke off as a man turned the corner and started down the hall towards them.

"Mia!"

"Speak of the devil!" Mia added happily from next to him.

Xander came to a stop in front of the pair. At first glance, Raleigh wouldn't have guessed he was sixteen either. He came in just under Raleigh's 6' 1" height and was still growing from the looks of it. The teen had a considerable amount of bulk where most boys his age simply looked stretched.

"Where have you been? I think Nikki's in the bays but they're apparently locked down, main crew only." The teen seemed to notice Raleigh for the first time as he stopped.

"I know. I found Mako and Raleigh. They just finished Drifting but Raleigh offered to get me into the bay. They'll let him in since he's a Ranger and gonna pilot Green Beast." Raleigh almost grinned at Mia's immediate familiarity, stretching of the truth, and rough assumptions but stopped himself when the younger man began appraising him.

"Raleigh as in Beckett?" Xander asked after a moment.

Raleigh nodded and held out a hand.

"Huh. Thought you'd be taller." Xander told him with a grin and accepted the hand.

Raleigh settled from shrugging noncommittally and began down the hall; the twins fell into step on either side of him until they reached the main entrance to the Jaeger bays. The two men guarding the door went to stop them but recognized Raleigh and let them past. The pilot wondered if Nikki had simply put her crew under orders not to let the twins in. It seemed like something she would do.

Raleigh scanned the workers in the scaffolding, looking for Nikki. Green Beast's bay was quieter than last time he had been in here but there was a steady buzz and movement despite the late hour. Not seeing her in the scaffolding, Raleigh turned his attention to the Jaeger itself. Only a handful of parts hung from cables as they waited for installation now and metal plating covered a majority of the Jaeger's form. After a moment, he saw the single figure harnessed about halfway up the left arm, about a hundred and fifty feet in the air, with a lit plasma torch. He pointed her out to the twins and they moved closer.

Behind him, he soft declaration of "She said she wouldn't." He tried to ignore it though and the trio stopped at a safe range roughly below Nikki. Raleigh caught a silent interaction between the twins and watched at Xander put two fingers to his lips, letting out a sharp whistle. It gained the attention of several of the crew but not Nikki.

A man on the second level of the scaffolding waived Raleigh over and tossed him a headset, with a brief explanation of "She'll never hear the twins without it" before he returned to his work.

Raleigh shrugged and slid the headset on, hoping it was on the right channel. "Nikki."

"Huh?" Her static filled reply came back as he walked back to the twins. "Beckett?"

"Yup. Look down." He watched as Nikki shut off the torch and began scanning the ground. She caught sight of the trio a moment later.

"Ah fuck. Give me a minute."

"She'll be down in a minute."Raleigh told the twins who were watching him expectantly as he slipped off the clunky headset. They watched as their sister relit the torch and took a few minutes to finish what she had been working on before repelling down. She landed with a thump about twenty yards away. A crew member was there immediately to take the harness and torch. Apparently they were good at predicting their leader's actions.

Nikki was talking before she even reached the twins and Raleigh. "Mia you said eight!" Her exasperation plain to anyone watching.

Mia seemed to hesitate before replying. "It's ten Nikki. We got back a little late but have been looking for you since we landed. The room's locked and you changed the code again."

Raleigh suddenly felt out of place as he watched Nikki almost deflate. "I'm so sorry. I meant to meet you at the helipad but left my phone down here. Let's head to the room and we can catch up okay?" Xander nodded but Mia didn't reply. "Thanks for bringing them Raleigh." Nikki told him quickly, almost as if trying to stem off any questions, before she lead the twins out of the bay, talking softly as they went.

Raleigh was unsure of what to do for a moment, still digesting the defeat he had seen in Nikki when she realized how much she messed up and added the information to what Tendo had told him earlier. The Jaeger pilot hesitated then went the opposite way to the mess hall, deciding on a quick run through for dinner before he hit his own bed. He had too many other things to worry about. The twins' potential as pilots was one of them but their relationship with their sister was not.

…

**Bolded text says to review. OBEY!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Out of all the chapters so far, I think this one is a personal favorite. Just saying.**

**Anyway, thank you to all my new readers, everyone following the story, and my reviewers. Every little bit motivates me more.**

**And here we go…..**

**…. /\ ….. /\ …..**

Raleigh was woken mercilessly from his sleep. Someone was shrieking. No. Raleigh sat up slowly and walked out into the hallway without bothering to get a shirt or shoes. It was too steady a sound to be human. Mako emerged from her room, yoga pants and a tanktop covered her shaking form.

They joined the tide of lost people drifting almost silently through the halls; many had gone to their original positions when the shrieking started then realized the futility. Mission control seemed to be the only place for answers.

"What do we do?" Raleigh fought for his voice as they reached the mission control room.

"I…" Mako couldn't form an answer as they fought their way to the front of the crowd.

Lights flashed all around and the shrieking continued as Raleigh stood next to Marshall Hansen. Tendo's hands hovered above the main control panel; frozen, knowing he should be doing something but was unable. Nikki stood between the twins, a hand on each as if keeping them in place.

"Turn it off." Herc's voice was blank as he issued the command. "It isn't doing any good."

The shrieking stopped. The alarm was useless and so were they. The Kaiju were back and they couldn't do a damn thing to stop them.

**…...**

Panama City was gone.

The death toll was hovering just below six thousand confirmed. The estimates for the missing were above twelve thousand.

The Category two Kaiju had emerged from a rift just off the coast and destroyed the former Shatterdome on the edge of the city before heading straight into the civilian population. It had taken three nukes to stop the creature. The Panamanian government had been one to ignore Marshall Hansen's suggestion to keep nuclear weapons on hand. It had taken almost two hours for them to reach the city. They might never know the impact that decision had on the citizen of Panama.

Raleigh and Mako sat on the steps just beyond the sparring mat where they had first been paired. They and almost every individual in the dome had stood in that control room for over three hours, watching as the Kaiju killed innocents, unable to do anything but continue watching.

"Why are we doing this Mako?" The words were out before Raleigh even realized he was speaking. "What hope do we have winning? We throw everything we have at them. We sacrifice ourselves and the people we love and it doesn't make a damn bit of different. We can't stop them so why are we still fighting?" Raleigh's voice almost broke at the end. Exhaustion and fear overwhelming him.

"We are doing this because there is no one else Raleigh. Hope is a foolish, weak dream but without it, humanity is nothing. We are fighting because we are strong enough to take the pain no matter our flaws which makes us able to protect the rest of the world.. All of us left standing are the ones broken beyond repair. I should have never been a Jaeger pilot. You should never have been brought back in. Nikki should never have been put in charge of the bays. Tendo should never have been LOCCENT Chief. Hansen should never have been made Marshall. But we are. We can't go back. Our broken lives are what hold others together." Mako spoke with an iron clad conviction that strengthened her co-pilot's determination.

They sat there, heads resting against each other for so long the sensor lights shut down, sending the gym into streaks of gray and black shadows. "We're allowed to be scared Raleigh. We would be fools if we weren't. It's what we do with that fear that makes us Rangers." She reminded him softly.

**…...**

The tension that had haunted the Shatterdome was gone, replaced by a furious energy. Before, they had worked on an assumption. They now worked on a conviction. The Kaiju were back and it was their duty to stop them.

Mako and Raleigh worked five hours a day with the future pilots and five hours a day in the Green Beast simulator. Every day was worse, waiting for a second attack. Three days after the destruction of Panama City, a category three Kaiju came through a rift near the Kamchatka Peninsula, far from any kind civilian population. The Russian military was ready despite the remote location and the creature had been killed within an hour. Four nukes provided the world with the absolute certainty that it was dead.

There had been mass rioting in most of the Pan Pacific countries, though Panama was the worst. What was left of the government had been hunted down in the street and killed as frightened civilians reacted to the chaos in the world. They blamed the officials for the time it took to get sufficient weapons, believing that more could have been saved if the Kaiju had been stopped before it made it farter in land.

A day after Kamchatka, a category one Kaiju came out of the ocean off the coast of Taiwan and destroyed a fishing village at the cost of several hundred lives. F-35's had been scrambled from a nearby American military base and had attempted to use Sidewinder and HARM missiles to kill the creature rather than resorting to a third nuclear strike in less than a week. Three of the fighters were destroyed in the attempt before the creature was killed, fifteen miles inland.

Military programs around the world began emergency meetings at the news, and defensive weapon development conferences convened within days. Every country wanted its own Jaeger but with the shortage of pilots and crews. Many countries were considering returning to the era of bunker lined beaches and surface to air missile batteries along every coast; their goal to be slowing the creatures until a Jaeger could be deployed.

Raleigh meanwhile, was stuck in his own conference as U.N. officials requested classified information on the Jaeger Corps and Kaiju movements.

"They're taunting us!" Newton was literally vibrating as he paced the council room. He had been brought in to the dome for this meeting. He had successfully drifted with a Kaiju brain segment a few hours ago with Hermann's help and hadn't sat still since coming out of it. "They know we have nothing! When we didn't stop them in Panama City we confirmed that we have nothing! They're just playing with their food now. They want us panicked and desperate and…" He went immediately to a computer screen and began typing into it, leaving the Corps officials in the room and the United Nations bureaucrats on the wall of screens, confused.

Mako stepped forward to address the screens after a moment of silence. "What means to say is that the Predecessors knowingly sent very strong Kaiju to an unpopulated region: Kamchatka. They followed that attack with the assault on Taiwan despite far more densely populated areas being very close. Following the destruction of the original rift and due to the early drifts with Dr. Geiszler they are aware of our weaknesses and where our few strengths remain. They willingly ignored another brutal attack in favor of Kamcatka Peninsula and Taiwan for some specific reason."

"It's a message!" Newt was back in the middle of the room pacing. "They're showing us the extent of their abilities to move the rifts and that we can't stop them without damaging our own world! They want us setting off nukes!"

"Are we sure that is what this means?" The Mexican delegate spoke up, doubt coloring his words. "You have drifted with them Dr. Geiszler?"

"Yes! Well, no. Kinda." The stream of words flew from the jittery man. "Yes, I've drifted with them but I didn't technically get that message. What I do know is that they know that we know that they know."

Silence followed. "Would you repeat that?" The American delegate asked evenly, voicing the question of everyone in the room.

Hermann sighed and stood, leaning heavily on his cane, speaking before Newton could confuse the suits even more. "What my esteemed colleague means to say is that the Predecessor creatures are aware the we understand the two way nature of the Drift now and that we may be purposely keeping information from the individuals who Drift with the Kaiju in order to stop the loss of tactics. They may be doing the same, considering we have gained no concrete information for the drift attempt."

"They want our attention!" Newt shouted, drawing all eyes back to him.

"Meaning…." It was apparent that Marshall Hansen was losing his patience with the scientist.

"I don't know. But I will." Newton sounded absolutely sure.

The Marshall sighed. "Newton, you're going back into isolation. We still can't have you in the dome. Work on intel and reverse engineering the rift. Hermann go with him….try to keep him on task?" Herc sounded less that sure about how successful Hermann would be. The pair left after gathering their things, Hermann sedately, Newton with more energy that could be put into the simple act of walking.

Several minutes were filled with paper shuffling and side discussions as the officials rearranged themselves and the people actually in the room rearranged themselves.

Raleigh slid into the now vacant seat next to Mako, tapping on the tabletop for a few seconds as she finished scratching down a note. "You doing okay?"

She glanced at him and nodded. "Always."

Her co-pilot let out a short, grim laugh. "Never anything less." Somewhere in the chaos of the last few days, they'd come to an understanding. They could be weak and damaged together, but in public, they were never anything less than resilient. After the rift closure they had been the heroes in the Jaeger, now with the threat returning they were symbols and had no choice but to live up to the ideal image of the PPDC.

Something impacted Raleigh's shin under the table, turning in his seat, he glared at Tendo who had just kicked him. The LOCCENT officer jerked his head towards Herc silently.

Raleigh and Mako faced the front of the room and realized they had missed the meeting restarting.

"In the last week, in addition to Panama, Kamchatka, and Taiwan; two rifts opened in the Atlantic. We are keeping that situation under surveillance but since the Kaiju are staying in the Pacific region, that is where the Jaeger Corps with be focusing for the time being. We have had crews working on the Jaeger helicopters and with your generous financial support, we have been able to upgrade the engines. We believe that once Green Beast is complete, we can have her deployed and in the air for combat in less than half an hour and on the assault ground anywhere in the Pacific region in less than six. Considering Panama was the only attack on the Eastern Pacific region, Green Beast will continue being deployed from Hong Kong." Herc outlined the PPDC plans for the officials quickly, leaving nothing up to debate.

"So we still have no validated information on their tactics or intentions Marshall Hansen?" The Hong Kong representative asked slowly.

Raleigh almost laughed at Herc's long suffering sigh. "No sir but I do believe we can be safe in the assumption that their intentions are to kill us all."

The Russian official let out a deep laugh, startling the room and several of the other delegates as the Hong Kong official fumbled for a reply.

"Marshall, the intelligence you passed on to us regarding the rifts opening outside of the Pacific, what do you propose to do about that?"

"For now? Jaegers. It's the only solution unless we want to be setting off nukes every week. They are historically the most successful defense and once we have a force rebuild, I believe we can easily reestablish the Miracle Mile and stop the attacks on civilian populations. We'll need more Jaegers beyond the projected five if it because a global threat but for the moment, we're focused on trying to contain the war in this region. That information was passed on as cautionary. The rifts outside of the Pan Pacific region have been significantly weaker now that we have the information to compare them to but they could become a threat in the future."

The meeting ended almost two hours later, without any solid decisions being made. The bureaucrats pushed for immediate deployment of Green Beast despite knowing it wasn't ready and that it couldn't cover the entire Pacific Region on its own but they had also provided more funding and resources to push the factory production faster.

**…...**

Two days later with no further attacks but with three empty rifts, Raleigh leaned against a wall, watching two Ranger candidates go for points on the sparring mat. Mako had left a moment ago; Newton had hailed mission control asking for her specifically.

The first pair finished with a clear victor, nullifying the matching attempt and the twins took the mat.

They didn't need the sparring like the other potentials, but their interactions showed the other trainees what to look for in their own co-pilots. The twins were spectacular, having been trained by the best for years. Each time they took the mat it was a different battle with equal grace in defense and brutality in attacks. Despite the size differences that gave Xander the strength advantage and Mia the speed advantage, they were so evenly matched that almost every session ended without a clear victor. The few that didn't were a reminder that the pair were still young and had let their inexperience guide them.

"Time." Raleigh had simply started ending each spar at ten minutes to stop them from exhausting each other. The pair broke apart easily at the sound of his voice despite having been in mid attack. Mia split to get water and Xander stepped off the mat after immediately taking his sister's staff for her. Watching them, Raleigh knew they were next in line for a Jaeger. If all went according to plan then they would be in Green Beast once Gipsy 2.0 was done. He had confidence in his persuasion techniques when it came to Nikki's concerns.

Speaking of which… the mechanic stepped into the room just as he thought of her. She scanned the room, stopping when she saw him. A grin split her face as she walked over to him, startling him. This was the first time he had seen her outside the construction bay since the Panama City attack.

"You're not good at answering your phone." Nikki told him, grin still in place.

Raleigh glanced at the bag where he had left it. "Sorry, forgot. What's up?"

"I've got someone you need to meet." Raleigh was confused for a moment until he realized why she looked like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

"Beast?"

"We finished installing the conn-pod an hour ago. We need a live test before the next attack. Green Beast isn't pretty but she's combat ready and waiting on you. Mako's getting into her drivesuit now. You're not going to keep a lady waiting are you?"

Raleigh barely remembered the walk to the drivesuit room and the time it took to get suited up. Mako waited for him there, grinning the entire time. She was just as ready to get back in a real Jaeger as he was.

The steps to the conn-pod seemed to take a lifetime. The pair walked so close, their arms brushed with each movement. As the conn-pod stirred to life for the first time, Raleigh could see the crowd assembling on the catwalks around the Jaeger. Bolts fell into place and claws clamped down on their drive suits as static crackled through the small room followed by the words they had been waiting for. "Rangers, this is Marshall Hercules Hansen. Prepare for Neural Handshake."

_Initiating Neural Handshake in fifteen seconds._

The last claws closed around their feet.

_Fourteen…_

Bolts fell into place along their spines.

_Thirteen…_

Silence echoed in the conn-pod.

_Twelve…._

Mako glanced over at her partner.

_Eleven…_

Lights flashed around them.

_Ten…_

The Display lit up.

_Nine…._

The Reactor whirred to life.

_Eight…_

Raleigh's hand clenched into a fist.

_Seven…_

Mako felt the Drift connection rise up within her.

_Six…_

The Jaeger shuddered.

_Five…_

"Calibrating"

_Four…_

Heartbeats sped up.

_Three…_

Each breath was in synch.

_Two…._

_One…_

"Neural Handshake Initiated." 

**…...**

**…..**

**…**

_Pushy bold sentence has been replaced by it's cousin italics who had a lot of fun this chapter and really wants you to review!_


	9. Chapter 9

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorite, and followed!**

**I'm going to keep this brief, but at the end of this chapter, there is a long author's note in response to a recent review by Speedloader questioning military decisions made in the Pacific Rim movie and in my story. It's mostly just my personal opinion on the matter but it might help clear a few things up**

**Anyway, please review and let me know what you think!**

**…**

Raleigh was sure he would remember that first drift with Mako in Green Beast for as long as he lived. There was an absolute certainty to it that made everything much clearer. Mako was back in his head and she was in his. For just a few minutes there was nothing but the drift, no combat, no fear, no officials, not even the Jaeger; just the drift and it was perfect.

The first deployment of the Beast was brief, exiting the Shatterdome and moving through the shallow areas of Victoria Bay for less than an hour. It was more public than the Marshall or pilots would have liked for a non-combat situation, but they had to test the physical aspects of the Jaeger before it saw combat and something went wrong.

Despite the lack of action following Green Beast's first steps, the exuberant roar of the crews and techs washed over Mako and Raleigh as they exited the conn-pod. They had proven that the Corps could rise above its tragedies. Only one question remained: what would happen in a Kaiju assault?

**…..**

"Faster!" Mako watched Raleigh as he paced the edge of the sparring mat, verbally assaulting the twins. He and everyone in the Academy Program had pushed themselves harder ever since Green Beast had been finished though the complete devotion of the twins was unique. They had been crafted and raised to be Jaeger pilots. They lived it and breathed the Corps in a way Mako wasn't sure even she and Raleigh couldn't match. Her partner seemed to recognize their extreme potential and was already pushing them to become the best. "Faster! You're not going to have time plan like this in a real fight. You should know what Xander's going to do before he does Mia!"

The other trainees were another matter, Mako thought critically as she turned her gaze on the crowd that watched the combat and Raleigh's commands. Some had military service, others did not. Some had lost family and friends to the Kaiju, some were here for the adrenaline only. As a group there was potential, as individuals, Mako questioned them.

The class did have a lot to learn from. They watched the twins each day and emulated them. They studied Mako carefully, hoping to eventually become like her. It was Raleigh who drew every eye though. Everyone for the U.N. officials to the lowest level of support crew followed him subconsciously. Many in the program and in the crews had started calling him a lucky charm, putting faith in how his return to the Corps had aided the closing of the original breach and putting their faith in the belief that he would lead the Jaeger Corps into a brighter future despite the looming threat.

Mako and her single red shoe had been a symbol since that faithful day when Tokyo had been attacked. Raleigh was becoming something else.

Her only question was whether he could handle it. She had been impressed and proud as he stepped up to the swirl of official conferences and design meetings, both areas he had no experience. Mako only wondered if he could handle the pressure once the simulated combat became real again, their recent drifts had told her nothing to worry or reassure her and now she was questioning her own abilities as well. What if she chased the rabbit again and pulled him down with her? The war could be lost before it was even begun.

The sound of bamboo hitting flesh broke Mako's thoughts. She glanced back in time to see Mia roll away from the first impact only to meet a second one with her shoulder. The staff hit the side of her throat, leaving her coughing and gasping for breath on her hands and knees. When the twins sparred, nothing was held back so when they failed, they were left bruised and battered. Xander was helping Mia up a heartbeat after his blow had landed, oblivious to the Ranger studying them. The twins were talented but they still had their moments of conflict and miscommunication.

"Mako!" She glanced at her co-pilot as he walked towards her a few minutes later. He had dismissed the trainees, leaving them alone in the nearly empty dojo.

"Dinner!"Raleigh exclaimed. They had devolved from conversation and even sentences at when in private. She nodded. They needed to eat and hitting the mess hall before dinner would give them time out of the constant focus that seemed to follow them now.

**…...**

"Rangers." Marshall Hansen appeared at Raleigh's elbow in the increasingly crowded dining hall. Max trotted along as the Marshall's ever present shadow and barked when Herc tried to speak. The dog got an empty glare before the Marshall continued. "We have a situation in the construction bay that requires your assistance."

Raleigh dropped his fork while Mako straightened, immediately attentive, in the spot across from him. There were no alarms wailing so he relaxed slightly. "Situation?"

The Marshall leaned forward his voice dropping so only the two pilots could hear him. "There is a press photographer in my office sent from the U.N. who is demanding publicity shots of Green Beast and her pilots. Go to the bay and look heroic."

"Are we no longer classifying information on the Green Beast sir?" Mako asked evenly after a moment. Neither pilot had imagined this would have been the ominous situation that brought the Marshall into the mess hall. Raleigh had assumed that with the original victory tour over, his role in the publicity arena of the PPDC was over.

"No. The public is aware of Green Beast and wants reassurance through details. The suits think it will help calm the ongoing riots and protests if civilians get visual confirmation of the rumors they've been hearing. The press team will be doing external shots of the Jaeger and focusing on the two of you. No written details are being released though. This is not an interview, watch what you say. The photographer will meet you in the bay. I've got to go deal with Newt who is convinced he has a new answer for all our problems." Herc told them crisply. Raleigh grinned at the last part. Newton had been hailing mission control every few hours with a new plan, all of which had been outlandish.

The Rangers nodded, clearing their trays quickly before taking the route to the construction bays.

"It's always interesting how Marshall Hansen has urgent duties elsewhere when cameras come out." Raleigh observed as they walked. The older pilot was notorious for his dislike of press junkets and promotional photos throughout the course of the war.

"He is a busy man." Mako replied with a knowing grin as they entered the main section of the dome.

It was easily ten degrees hotter in the bays and Raleigh could feel himself already beginning to sweat. The smell of paint filled the massive room, assaulting the pilots. Green Beast towered over the pair, now living up to its name. The tarnished and mismatched metal was now a deep shade of army green with black streaks and accents.

"It's the best I could do in four hours." Nikki came along side them a moment later.

She looked better than Raleigh had ever seen her. She wore a full body suit with the upper half peeled away and hanging from her waist with a sports bra underneath, dog tag chains disappeared beneath the neckline. He could see now that her blue tattoo wrapped from her palm in thin lines to disappear under a wide silver band that wrapped around her bicep. The deep blue created a strange contrast with her red hair and the dark green specks of paint that flecked her covered legs and work boots.

"Herc didn't know about the press junket until the photographer was in the air. I was just told to make Beast look respectable." Nikki broke off and put a hand up to the head set in her ear. "No. I said to put the joint gears on the lower catwalk. Judson, don't…" She broke off again and gestured for them to follow her. "Don't move them again or I have to recalibrate them."

Mako and Raleigh followed her to where a photographer and his crew were setting up a 'gritty but realistic' photo shoot below Green Beast.

It seemed to take forever but was only an hour or two of the pair being told to look impressive but relaxed. Commanding but not trying. Attentive but not paranoid. Raleigh eventually gave up and just began looking wherever the camera wasn't. He hadn't had the patience for press photos five years ago, and certainly didn't have it now. Mako was much better at it than him though. The jittery photographer began calling her a 'Porcelain Warrior' after a few minutes and eventually decided he wanted pictures of her in a drivesuit, leaving Raleigh free to escape. He wandered the bay, not ready to abandon his partner yet but unwilling to go near and recapture the attention of the artist.

"You survive?" Nikki's voice came from above him and saw her sitting on the edge of the scaffolding a few levels above him. Other crew members were lounging, well hidden in the scaffolding, nearby. They had apparently been watching the debacle below since it had halted their work.

"You hiding too?" Raleigh asked with a grin.

She nodded. "He tried to grab me before you two got here to show the "broken beauty trapped by the war." She screwed up her faces as she quoted the photographer.

Raleigh quickly climbed the scaffolding and settled in beside her and raised an eyebrow. "You feel trapped?"

"No." Nikki's response was immediate. "I do this because I chose to. Someone has to do it. Might as well be me." She rubbed unconsciously at her blue ink.

"I was thinking of putting the twins into the Green Beast simulator tomorrow." Raleigh breeched the topic he knew the tech wanted to avoid. "I thought they should get used to it as soon as possible so we can go straight to two combat capable teams once Gipsy's ready." He fell silent, waiting for her response.

He was shocked when she nodded. "If you think they're ready."

"You..what about…" Raleigh hadn't been prepared for her actually agreeing. He had a whole speech on how she couldn't keep smothering them prepared.

"I've been thinking about it since Panama." Nikki admitted. "There are no guarantees in life and if I hadn't been trying to hold them back at every turn, it could have been different. I can't keep trying to save them at the sacrifice of a thousand others. They would hate me for it. Mia and Xander have each other; my job now is to give them the best protection in a Jaeger possible. Nothing lasts forever."

They watched in silence as Mako in her full drivesuit walked down the bay floor, followed by a clicking camera. Raleigh felt a little guilty but before he could be swayed, Nikki jumped down from the catwalk, her horrified voice bouncing off metal. "I think the reactor's leaking! Everybody out!"

Raleigh began to move but frozen when he noticed none of the crew members were panicking, much less moving. Taking a cue from them, he watched the terrified photographer and his assistants rushed out alone and oblivious. After a moment he joined Nikki and Mako on the floor just in time to catch their conversation.

"Must you always do that?" Mako let out a suffering sigh.

"Like you were having fun. Plus it's a time honored tradition." Nikki told her with a grin.

"I'm going to go out on a limb and say we're not all going to die." Raleigh interjected.

"Nope." Nikki replied as she helped Mako remove her helmet entirely. "That was an '86. A brilliant little tactic Ms. Mori came up with for when suits or other intruders overstay their welcome in the bays and halt repairs. Freak them out and they run."

Mako had the composure to blush. "When I was a child, Marshall Pentecost would have me give tours when officials visited a Shatterdome. When I was thirteen I grew annoyed at their foolish questions while giving a tour and may have pretended there was a gas leak coming from a Jaeger." She explained quickly, ducking her head slightly to hide a growing grin.

Nikki openly laughed and was joined by Raleigh after a moment.

"And if it had been a real emergency?" Raleigh asked curiously after he stopped laughing.

"We have regulations and procedures for everything in here including the emergencies." Nikki told him evenly before Mako interrupted.

"Only two of those involve Nikki running around flailing like that." His partner announced in a teasing tone. The two women shared a look. Raleigh realized their vague relationship ran deeper than he had first assumed.

"Speaking of which… Get back to work!" Nikki bellowed the last part into the scaffolding which came alive with movement. "Bunch of lazy bums."

She glanced at the pair grimly. "Do you both have a minute, there's a feature on Beast you both need to see." Raleigh was startled by her sudden change in demeanor but nodded along with Mako.

The two pilots followed Nikki through maze of catwalks to the conn-pod. "All new Jaeger designs will have more secure conn-pod. The code will only be known by their pilots, the Chief LOCCENT Officer, the Marshall, and the top three crew members. The Marshall thinks this will stop any sabotage attempts on the interior of a Jaeger before they can ever be considered." Nikki told the two quietly as she showed them the control panel and their code before leading them into the silent space and closing the opening behind them.

Raleigh couldn't remember the last time he has seen a conn-pod so still. There was a sort of mournful quality to it, ghosts echoed within the metal walls.

Nikki triggered a screen with her palm print and two small segment of the wall on each side of the pilots' rigging peeled back. Two sets of simple levers were sunk into the walls; one red, one black.

"The Marshall decided that if a situation like the one at the breach ever arose again, we needed to be prepared. Red will detonate charges within Jaeger as a defense to ensure the Precursors never gain our technology. Black is an offensive charge and uses the defensive charges as well as the reactor itself. It will take out the Jaeger and anything within at least a five mile radius." Nikki seemed to hesitate, one hand over the red lever on the right before she pulled away. "They have a thirty second delay time and can be triggered while still in harness. The weapons system is autonomous within the Jaeger. It cannot be taken out unless the entire conn-pod is destroyed and can only be triggered from within. The security latch is triggered by your palm print or drivesuit print, it will scan in two seconds and then you're free to detonate.

Studying one set, realization washed over Raleigh as he understood why the Marshall and Nikki had installed these as a separate system and failsafe. If the system had been developed earlier and installed in Striker Eureka, either Chuck or Stacker would have had a much better chance of surviving the breach attack. They were both trying to ensure that no other Jaeger pilot had to make such a sacrifice again.

"And your palm print?" Mako asked carefully after a hesitation.

The tech nodded. "I installed the entire thing by myself to ensure it was secure and unknown, so mine works. The Marshall and Tendo are the only other ones who know. Future Jaegers will all have enclosed systems that can only be used by their pilots. If pilots change Jaegers, Tendo can reprogram it in fifteen minutes." Nikki was distracted as she spoke, fiddling with the chain around her neck. "You both needed to know before the next attack. I hope you never need to use it."

She took a breath and all the sadness and fear disappeared to be replaced by an empty grin. "You two get out of here. I have stuff to do and I'm not trusting Green Beast to tired pilots."

**…**

The next morning, Raleigh rolled out of bed to pounding at the door. Opening it, revealed a breathless aide who managed to get out "Marshall Hansen needs you in ops immediately" in between gasps for air. He had apparently been running.

Confusion washed over the pilot as he rushed through the halls, every little disruption had him expecting a Kaiju attack but now that Green Beast was ready, there had been none. It was making him twitchy.

"What's going on?" Raleigh went to Choi the second he walked through mission control's doors.

"Newton's take advantage of Hermann being here for a meeting to try to test his theory on recreating a rift." The tech told him in a rush before turning back to his displays.

A worried and annoyed Hermann stood at the front of the room next to a pissed Marshall and deceptively calm Mako.

"This is a bad idea?" Raleigh asked his partner quietly, having no knowledge of the science or what Newt was actually attempting.

She nodded. "Very bad and we have no way of stopping him. Apparently he has locked the security personnel out of the bunker. They're trying to cut through the door at the moment."

"Should we be getting in Green Beast then?"

Mako shook her head. "It's not a matter of Kaiju coming through Dr. Geiszler's rift if he succeeds. It would be locked to only human dna. The issue is that Hermann does not believe that his partner will succeed and that a failed rift opening will have a large concussive blast radius."

"The imbecile is about to blow himself up!" Hermann's terse words bounced through the room.

"No I'm not!" Newt appeared on the massive screen. "I have taken every possible precaution in regards to the experience and there is no point in postponing it!"

"You don't know the meaning of precaution!" Hermann sniped back automatically.

Newton narrowed his eyes. "I would like to point out that if this works, the war is over before it restarts and we can go home." He disappeared from the screen for several silent minutes as Herc and Tendo both radioed to the support team and security at the bunker with no response.

A moment later the video screen shook then went black with the sound of a blast echoing through the speakers.

"Imbecile." Hermann stated viciously.

Tendo swore. "We've lost all contact with Newton's bunker." He told the room as he fought to bring the video feed back up.

Several tense minutes passed before the screen crackled to life, full of static. Smoke filled the air in the distant base and they could hear coughing.

"Newton. You copy?" Tendo spoke quickly into the microphone.

More coughs followed and Newton came into sight as he pulled himself upright. His glasses were missing and he looked like he had been electrocuted, hair went in every direction. A burn was visible on one arm as he corrected the crooked camera.

"What the hell just happened?" Marshall Hansen asked after a moment. Newton glanced around him, beyond the scope of the camera. "Uh… I think we can say reproducing the rift was a failure. I may have blown up the bunker."

Herc swore. "You idiot. A team is coming to get you now. If you even think of moving till they get there, I will duct tape you to a chair and leave you in front of a Kaiju temple."

Mako was grim as she left the room with Raleigh after the chaos was reined in. Raleigh realized she had hoped for a successful attempt despite slim chances. He had too but they were still stuck with no other options other than the Jaegers.

Hours later, after two successful sims and a round of abuse the trainees, Mako and Raleigh were in the dining hall during the late dinner rush. When that familiar sound began bouncing through the room, it seemed to eat every other sound till silence echoed beyond the alarm. The two Rangers stood in sync, Raleigh had a crooked grin and Mako a serene smile. Neither showed the doubt or nerves hidden within. Every set of eyes in the room was on them as they walked smoothly through the crowded room.

The Kaiju were back and trying to prove a point and this time, they were ready.

**…**

**….**

**….**

**BOLDED TEXT DEMANDS A SACRIFICE OF REVIEWS!**

**Authors Note/My personal thoughts on aspects of the Pacific Rim world and why Jaegers are the best solution beyond just being awesome:**

**The way I see it, the weapons used by the Jaegers to stop the Kaiju, like Striker Eureka's missiles are only part of the solution. The Jaegers are equal or better than the Kaiju at maneuverability, able to fight on land or in the sea. Explosives are only part of the combat as many Kaiju battles in the movie require direct hand to hand combat and blade weapons. **

**Submarines are slower than Jaegers by far and have less maneuverability while being restricted by certain depths and natural reefs and cliffs within the ocean, elements that Kaiju and Jaegers can easily over come. With a submarine specifically, a Kaiju would be able to come up under them and rip the sub in half before they could fire off the missiles. Submarines are also an issue considering Kaijus with emp abilities, any modern sub would instantly become a floating coffin, since they have crews of over a hundred who can be killed easily by a ruptured fuselage. I also don't see jets as an option because the payloads they carry would not be effective against the Kaiju alone. Striker's missiles are never the only element responsible for a Kaiju defeat and making them smaller so a jet is able to carry them and launch them would make them even less effective.**

**As an overall element to the choices made in the movie and in my story, humans are irrational creatures especially when confronted with creatures they can barely explain much less reason with or fight. Scared people will lash out and make stupid decisions under any circumstance which is the reasoning I see behind the wall attempt in the movie. The irrational reactions of humans exists in real life and in the movie and will come into play in this story.**

**The movie is set in the future, so it's hard to say why certain things work and others don't but I'm going to go with the original writers on this topic and say that Jaegers are the best options for fighting Kaiju.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Not much of an author's note this time. Though I do need advice… I'm having trouble naming Kaiju in this chapter and later in the story. Anyone have suggestions? Either names or the best way to chose them?**

**Anyway, thanks to everyone who has reviewed, favorite and followed! **

**…..**

The Category two Kaiju let out a bellow as it clawed at the water around it. Green Beast waited a few hundred yards away in the shallows. The Jaeger and her pilots had failed to hold the Miracle Mile and were eight hundred yards away from land. Seoul and its civilian population lay beyond that.

The Jaeger had arrived just as the South Korean military forces were retreating from the coastline. The teams had done an impressive job of holding off the creature with antiquated heavy artillery. Raleigh had felt Mako's interest through their Drift connection on why that had worked better than the more modern weapons Taiwan had tried to use to stall the Kaiju a few days before.

Raleigh was brought back to the attack as the Kaiju roared again and leapt at them, long claws scrambling for purchase on the metal form. A brutal punch shook off the beast though it snapped its jaws at the last moment, taking wiring from the Jaeger's left side with a symphony of snapping cables. The Rangers were thrown back in their harnesses as they pulled the Jaeger away from the monster's teeth.

The thought of armor flickered into Raleigh's head and he agreed with his partner. Green Beast's plating was not heavy enough to deal with higher category Kaiju claws and teeth.

The Kaiju tumbled to a stop in the shallow water and seemed disoriented as it stumbled slightly before regaining its footing. The creature's tail whipped the air and water around it.

Mako quickly judged the distance between Jaeger and Kaiju before bringing up her arm and preparing Green Beast's plasma cannon. Raleigh shifted a foot back in sync with his co-pilot as they steadied the Jaeger on the uneven sea floor for the blast. It went off, rippling the air and catching the Kaiju in the side as it attempted to dive out of the way. Blue blood arched through the air to splash into the water, neon against the black depths.

The Kaiju dove at them, going under the recharging plasma cannon and striking at the reactor. Sparks flew as the claws sliced metal. Raleigh felt like this Kaiju was smarter than its predecessors if only barely. It didn't seem to go straight for any attack but considered options before continuing any assault. The Ranger shook his head slightly, refocusing when he realized he was over thinking the combat. It wasn't his job to analyze Kaiju tactics. That's what the experts were for. The only thing he needed to focus on a right now was how to stop the current attack not on what it could mean for the future.

Working in sync, Mako and Raleigh blocked the Kaiju's next strike and knocked the beast head over heels, pushing it back from the coastline and into deeper water. The ground shook beneath the massive pair.

Taking advantage of the progress away from land and civilians, Mako recharged the plasma cannon and a second blast caught it in the stomach before it could move. Raleigh could hear the joints of Green Beast whirr and creak as the Jaeger rushed the creature and pile drove it into the ocean floor. As the Kaiju struggled beneath them, a third blast of the cannon took off the creatures head, sending bits of Kaiju through the air and water.

Raleigh and Mako were both breathing heavily as they Jaeger took a step back and stilled. A mixture of fierce pride and intense happiness floated through their connection as they simply basked in the moment.

"We're fucking awesome." Raleigh found himself laughing, a delirious sound.

"Yes." Mako could barely catch her breath as a grin split her face beneath her helmet. "We are."

Both were exhausted but alive in a way they hadn't been in a long time. They had proven themselves to each other, to themselves, to the world, and to the Kaiju. A long fight lay before them but for the moment, they were successful.

"Rift closed, no further life signs, confirmed Kaiju kill." Tendo's proud voice echoed through the conn-pod as the pilots grinned at each other, adrenaline and pride coursing through their veins. The speakers around them seemed to vibrate from the cheers and applause miles away in mission control.

"Good job Rangers." Marshall Hansen's voice calmed the distant throng somewhat as he spoke. "Military forces are being deployed now to collect the Kaiju remains and PPDC helicopters are coming for you now. Report in once you return to the Shatterdome."

Fifteen minutes after the Kaiju was killed, Mako and Raleigh could hear the cables attaching to the exterior of Green Beast and the groan as they pulled taunt, the machines taking the weight of the Jaeger and raising it from the ocean.

It was several hours later before Green Beast was back in her bay and the pair were able to discharge the neural load and cut the Drift. Despite feeling a harsh drift hangover beginning Mako and Raleigh dutifully reported to the Marshall's office.

"Marshall." Mako tapped lightly on the door to Herc's office before the pair entered on Hansen's command. The Shatterdome was quiet, most crew and techs had finished their jobs before the Jaeger was back and were now sleeping in the early morning. The only movement was in the bays where Tendo and Nikki were overseeing the decontamination and repair of Green Beast, their jobs only beginning.

"Rangers." Herc nodded at the pair. "I'll keep it brief; we all need our rest. Good job tonight, we proved a point to the world and the Kaiju's masters. There hasn't been a single rift opened since the Kaiju was sent through and killed. Ten hours without one is the longest we've gone since the Breach was closed. You two are free for the next twenty four hours except in case of another attack. A meeting to review the assault and the Academy will be scheduled when you are both ready. Dismissed."

The two Jaeger pilots nodded, relieved at the simplicity of the meeting. They split as they reached their hall, needing time apart after such a long drift, and each collapsed in to their own beds.

**….**

Raleigh beat Mako by two hours. He was out for sixteen while she was out for eighteen. It was almost two quiet days after the alarm went off before the two were alert enough to meet with Hansen officially.

The meeting was just the two pilots, Hansen, Tendo, and Nikki. Keeping it small kept vital details from leaking out and considering how small the Jaeger Corps was at the moment, the five were the only thing resembling a chain of command.

"How is Green Beast looking?" The Marshall started the meeting off as soon as Tendo and Nikki hurried in the door.

"Good all things considered. We've already finished replacing the damaged systems and the plating will be done in a few hours." Nikki reported quickly, allowing Tendo to take over.

"We're updating the plasma generator for the left cannon, the readings taken during the fight showed it was performing below capacity but it's almost done. Green Beast was officially battle ready five hours after combat and will be pristine within another two. Not bad numbers considering the original condition of the Jaeger. We should need less recovery time in the future."

Herc nodded, pleased. "And factory production on the new ones? It's been several days since I've been given an update."

Tendo and Nikki glanced at each other before the LOCCENT officer explained. "There was a slight delay because of a looted supply shipment. It was going through the Panama Canal right after the Kaiju attack when rioting was at its worst in the country. Four other ships were attacked and looted indiscriminately."

"How far behind are we?" Mako asked evenly.

"The looting hit the supplies needed for 445 so it has been pushed back and 381 will be started next instead. Gipsy will start arriving in about a week. I thought it was best if she didn't come in a single shipment so we didn't lose everything if an attack targeted the carrier. We'll start assembling her in the bay across from Green Beast as soon as possible." Nikki informed the group.

"When will she be operational?" Raleigh didn't mind Green Beast but he needed _his_ Jaeger back. They weren't just interchangeable.

Nikki shrugged. "We've never tried a production like this for a factory Jaeger. It should be quicker than Beast but no guarantees. It depends by how quickly her pieces come in."

"How is the Academy program looking? Any luck pairing?" Herc changed the direction of the conversation.

Raleigh nodded. He and Mako had spent a late breakfast poring over all the stats and opinions collected from the prospective group and thought they had two decent pairings. "We've got the twins and two other potential pairs." He said quickly before Mako took over.

"Office Choi and I have been working on simulator designed specifically to match pilots. We will start using it tomorrow and should have sufficient data to confirm or rearrange pairings within a few days."

Hansen nodded. "Run the twins through it first and compare their real results with projected results so we have an idea how successful the program is."

He seemed to hesitate before continuing with a grimace. "I have been working with PPDC officials to ensure we never have a shortage of pilots like this again and parts of their concerns revolve around the idea that pilots can only work with one other person. They want to look into multiple pairings and test pilots for Drift compatibility with multiple people." He trailed off as Raleigh and Tendo both protested immediately.

"You can't just switch pilots out like they're puzzle pieces!" Raleigh was furious at the idea. The partnership is what came first. "The more you Drift with someone, the better the pairing is! Trying to switch people out will destroy that connection!" Mako remained silent, letting her confrontational partner voice her opinion alongside his.

"That would seriously screw with the pilots. Everytime you drift you get the memories of others they have drifted with. We know from Mako and Raleigh that you can even end up with ghost drifting within the pair. Even test drifting to confirm a second partnership would be putting at least four sets of memories into each pilot! No one could handle that and stay stable in attacks!" Tendo added in his protests.

The Marshall held up a hand silencing the pair of men. "I am aware of all those points which is why I vetoed the idea as a standard procedure. Testing will only involve comparing sim date and not even partial Drifting. Any changed pairings will only occur under desperate situations." Herc fell silent and Raleigh knew what desperate situation the older pilot was thinking of. The kind where one pilot was unable to continue because of a broken arm but his co-pilot had a duty to carry out in order to save the world.

Herc glanced at the bulldog who was sleeping at his feet before continuing. "The plan is a long way off because it is impossible without a pool of trained and qualified pilots to pull the necessary data from. We currently only have six, four of which are in stable pairs."

Raleigh ran through the math in his head, only coming up with five; the twins, himself, Mako, and Herc. "Five." He corrected.

Herc Hansen shook his head. "Angel makes six."

Realization washed over Raleigh as he vaguely remembered someone telling him that Nikki was Drift capable but had left the Academy when she was more useful in the Bays than in a conn-pod.

"No." Nikki's objection cut through the room. Anger and something akin to betrayal were written across her face and directed at the Marshall. She opened her mouth to continue but was cut off.

"If you allow your name to be added to the pool, PPDC has agreed to allocate basic funding for 509 once the fleet is done." Herc's voice was cold as he didn't meet Nikki's gaze.

She froze at his words and seemed to struggle with her unspoken conflict before nodding curtly. "Fine."

Hansen turned his attention back to the current pilots. "Do you have anything to add regarding the battle and Green Beast's performance?"

"It needs heavier armor overall. The left leg system seems to have a slower reaction time to commands than the right and the hydraulics of the conn-pod may need to be checked. They seemed stiff when we took a blow to the main segment of Beast's body." Mako had her answer ready to go and Raleigh nodded in agreement.

The Marshall glanced at Tendo who nodded; I'll check both areas out with Nikki tonight. I've got to finish that training program if there is nothing further." Herc dismissed the tech with a nod.

Mako glanced at Raleigh who read her thoughts and nodded. The Rangers stood, "We should check in on the trainees. They've been without abuse for too long."

Herc nodded a second time, "They need it."

The pair of pilots left, leaving Nikki and Herc alone in the conference room.

**…**

Raleigh wandered the halls later that night, long after the dome had fallen quiet. Sleep was difficult. Mako's memories where at the forefront of his mind, fighting for dominance with his own. It wasn't difficult or painful, just very distracting. He had considered going to Mako's room for comfort but he would feel guilty tomorrow if he woke her now. He would always be there any time she needed him day or night and he knew she would do the same but he still fought the impulse unless he got desperate.

Walking past the gym, he noticed the motion sensor lights were on, signaling an occupant despite the late hour. His mind went first to Mako, wondering if she had struggling to sleep too. He was surprise to see Nikki pounding on a punching bag but reconsidered his reaction considering the meeting earlier in the day.

"Trouble sleeping?" She jerked at the sound of his voice, catching the bag with a hand just before it hit her.

"Something like that." Nikki muttered before turning back to the bag and continuing her assault. A sheen of sweat covered her body along with a tank top and shorts and the metal arm band. Her taped up hands covered some of her tattoo though half still showed. Raleigh wondered if her tattoo was a reminder like Mako's blue streaks.

Moving behind the bag, Raleigh steadied it as Nikki kept up the rhythm of punches, her dog tags tapping against her chest with every motion. She definitely had combat experience, something along the lines of kick boxing he would guess.

"This is slightly hypocritical, but there are better ways to handle stress than this." Raleigh told her with a crooked grin, trying to break the bleak look on her face after several minutes of quiet filled only by the sound of flesh hitting the bag.

Nikki sighed and caught the bag a second time. "Not really, its violence or alcohol for me and I can't drink under the constant threat." She told him before resuming the constant assault.

"Do you want to talk or should I just hold the bag and pretend not to exist?"

Nikki let soft laugh and her rhythm slowed. "It's nothing in particular, I just needed time away. The bays are always full with everything going on. The few hours I get off need to be somewhere else."

"Have you ever considered sleeping? I hear it's healthy."

"You're one to talk." Nikki emphasized her point with a harder punch, her rhythm picking back up. "The twins have taken over our room again and we've gone back to the vicious cycle of me worrying about them and them worrying about me."

"You don't need to worry so much. They're already great and they're only going to get better." Raleigh's comment was softer than he meant it to come out.

Nikki nodded. "I know. I've always known. It's the only reason I'm not fighting them anymore. I just always thought we would end the war one way or another before putting them in a Jaeger became so necessary." Her frustration showed her face and every tense muscle in her body.

"We…"Raleigh's comment was cut off as Nikki's next punch had enough force behind it that the bag pushed Raleigh back a half step. He heard something crunch as he stabilized.

"Fuck!" Nikki stepped away from the bag, shaking her hand. The Ranger could see blood seeming through the tape and gauze on her knuckles as she moved towards one of the cabinets on the other side of the gym.

"Let me look at it." Raleigh offered a hand as he followed.

"No." Nikki stopped him with her good hand before rummaging through the first aid kit. "I just need everything to stop for just a minute and I'll be fine. I just…" She broke off and tried to ripe a piece of medical tape off with her teeth.

"Jesus." Raleigh gave up trying to be polite and grabbed the tape from her before taking her hand. "Just stand still for a minute and let someone else help. It isn't going to kill you to take the assistance." At least one knuckle was broken so he quickly taped and splinted her last three fingers together. She would have to see one of the medical personnel tomorrow.

"If the person in charge of keeping my Jaeger in one piece is going to be abusing herself, I think I deserve an explanation."

Nikki sat on one of the benches with a huff, cradling her damaged hand. "Every time I adjust and get a hold of things, it gets worse. It's this never ending pile of shit to deal with. If I mess up, everything goes to hell but I can't stop because no one else can do it either!" The words came out in a single rush, having been pent up for too long.

Raleigh knew he could relate. "Desperate times, desperate measures."

Nikki nodded, her voice hollow. "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."

They sat in companionable silence for a while, both recognizing the similarities they had never thought they shared.

The calm was shattered by the Kaiju alarm as it shrieked through the Shatterdome.

"And so it begins again." Raleigh stood and began walking to the gym doors

Nikki fell into step beside him. "No rest for the weary."

"No rest for the wicked." Raleigh changed her words with a crooked grin but missed her response as a rushing tech called her name in the hall and they separated, one going to the drivesuit team and the other to the bays to help the crews wake Green Beast.

**…..**

**Bolded text does its best Dalek impression in honor of the 12****th**** doctor reveal: Review! **_**REVIEW!**_


	11. Chapter 11

**I know there are a lot of OC's being introduced this chapter. I've never liked stories with big groups of OC's but considering the end of the movie, there really aren't many option. Mako and Raleigh can't keep saving the world on their own and will continue to be the focal points of this story.**

**I also know I made several mistakes regarding the planned weapons systems for Green Beast versus what was actually used in battle. I've had a difficult few days and my editing skills went to hell so I made a few continuity errors. I've cleaned up my story notes and organized better so it shouldn't happen again. Basically just pretend Green Beast won because of how awesome Mako and Raleigh are. That's all that matters and the exact weapons used are inconsequential at the moment.**

**And for all those reviewers who were amazed at my updating skills, you jinxed it! I've gotten some bad medical news which is keeping me very busy so I have much less time for writing and editing. You can expect sparser updating in the future unfortunately.**

**Anyway, thank you to all my reviewers, readers, and those who have favorite the story! That's what is keeping me motivated at the moment and every little bit helps!**

**…..**

It was three weeks since the Kaiju attacked Panama City and Green Beast's kill count was at four. The Kaiju near Seoul that had been dubbed _Baltob_, a Cat 2, and two Cat 1s. Mako and Raleigh existed in what felt like a perpetual state of exhaustion. No Jaeger team had ever tried to cover the entire Pan Pacific region since the first year of the war. The strain of constant movement between battles as well as the combat itself was showing on the pair and their Jaeger. They spent more time on C-17s and in the conn-pod travelling all over the region than in the Shatterdome while the support teams were struggling to complete all repairs before the next attack.

It was made worse by the loss of workers who had begun to construct Gipsy Danger. Herc had called it a Catch 22. Lose workers on Green Beast but gain a second Jaeger sooner or keep workers on Green Beast but wait for Gipsy longer. Neither option was perfect but they were as close to balanced as could be.

The overall mood wasn't helped by the fact that the Rangers weren't dealing with a case of simple exhaustion that could be cured by sleep. The mental strain of regular drifts was as hard on the Rangers as the physical damages. Every time they came out of the Drift, it took longer to separate themselves and insomnia was now a problem for both.

The pair wandered separately during the nights they couldn't sleep, needing time alone to isolate themselves, collecting their thoughts and separating them from the others. Mako spent most of her time in the upper reaches of the bays; she had known the secluded sections since her childhood and was at home there, out of the way of the night crews who knew she was there but left her alone as a sign of respect.

Raleigh had begun wandering the secluded halls of the private corridors and research sections of the dome. They were the quietest and had the least personal memories attached to them. Nothing stopped his thoughts from drifting there.

They weren't the only haunted people wandering the Shatterdome at late hours. Newton showed up in random places at random times as he tried to find new solutions or new details in old information. Herc had banned him from drifting with the Kaiju brain segment after the bunker fiasco. Sleep seemed inconsequential to the eccentric scientist though his appearance grew more disheveled with each passing day without answers.

The Marshall was also often seen pacing the halls with Max. The mismatched pair's reason for wandering obvious to any resident of the dome and they were left in quiet privacy unless there was an emergency.

Nikki and Tendo both seemed to use the Jaeger repairs as their outlet, working at all hours, day or night. Tendo seemed capable of falling asleep on the equipment in mission control in a heartbeat.

It was a strange balance for the dome, one that the crews seemed to find confusing but it helped everything stay sane and was therefore acceptable.

This night however, the halls were missing most of their ghosts. The two Rangers were in the gym, sparring slowly. They were meeting with Hansen in the morning to go over the potential teams for the new Jaegers now that Tendo had plenty of simulator details to compare. Mako and Raleigh were using the empty dojo and their sparring to reflect on their own Drift connection and how the trainees compared.

Raleigh had almost snapped earlier that afternoon when they had failed to find a potential pair for the fifth Jaeger from the collective trainees. Mako had calmed him almost immediately by reminding him that on paper, they would not have appeared as a good pair and that they could still find a good solution.

"We need to find a way to help them develop a connection outside the drift." Raleigh kept his voice low in the empty dojo. "The pairs are drift compatible but it's outside the conn-pod that worries me."

"I believe our best option will be making them live together. It's one of the oldest tactics."

Raleigh thought back to his days in the bunk below Yancy. It would be the simplest solution. "Agreed. Though why were we not ever put together?" Although they had rooms right across from each other, Raleigh had never thought about how unique their sleeping situation was.

"Sensei." Mako told him with a slight grin as she slowed her attack. "He didn't like the idea." Her smile faded. "Then everything happened and we were travelling so much for the victory tour and now…"

"We don't need it. We actually need time apart." Mako nodded in agreement to Raleigh's words.

The older Jaeger pilot hesitated before voicing his silent fear. "What if we fuck this up and get them all killed?" The idea had been building since Herc first handed him the folder with the pilot bios in it.

"Then they die." Mako's reply was brutal but it was what she knew her co-pilot needed to hear and it was the truth. "They know the risks and they are here because they believe in what we do for whatever reason. We will prepare to the best of our abilities but what they do once they are in a Jaeger is their responsibility. We will watch their backs in every battle but we are all mortal and this is war. Some will die."

Mako rolled under a particularly violent attack when Raleigh's staff swung towards her head. She didn't take it personally; she knew he was venting his frustration. Though that knowledge didn't stop her from jabbing at his solar plexus with the butt of her staff in return and impacting when he failed to block successfully.

Raleigh's breath went out in a whoosh.

"I will make sure the arrangements for the new quarters are arranged tomorrow morning." Mako told him as he straightened.

"Thanks." Raleigh loved how his partner was so capable and that he could rely on her for every area where he was weaker, including management.

The pair separated after another few minutes of slow, silent sparring. "I'm going to sleep." Mako told her co-pilot quietly.

Raleigh nodded and took her staff for her; sending her off with a sarcastic salute and genuine "good luck"

The lone Ranger turned instead to one of the weight benches, too much pent up frustrated energy to consider seeking his own bed. Raleigh couldn't help but think that someone else's bed would be a better solution but didn't have any options and simply continued to work out.

**…..**

Raleigh was exhausted the next morning as he followed Mako to the meeting, coffee in one hand and tablet in the other. Tendo and Herc were waiting for the pilots, projector already up and cycling through the bios of the potentials.

A rift had opened at four in the morning, setting of the Kaiju alarm and sending pilots and crews scrabbling for Green Beast. When nothing came through after an hour, the Rangers had been dismissed.

"You look like shit." Tendo told Raleigh as the co-pilots sat.

"So do you." Raleigh replied with a half hearted attempt at a glare. The LOCCENT officer was missing his usual tie and his hair was only in a half hearted attempt at being coiffed. Dark circles rested under his eyes.

"We all look awful. Can we continue so I can try to sleep for a few more hours before the next rift opens?" Mako's temper flared, showing her own exhaustion.

The two men redirected their attention to the files as Herc let out a single short laugh before focusing on the task at hand. "Which Jaeger do you propose for the twins?" The Marshall started the conversation and waited for the pilots and tech to give him the details.

"381, it's got the best overall stats after Gipsy and their fighting style takes equal parts speed and strength. They'll be able to grow into the Jaeger and modify their tactics to the machine as they progress." Raleigh explained quickly.

"Plus its next off the line after Gipsy Danger." Tendo added.

Raleigh nodded. "They would have been good in 445 or 381 but Mako and I think they have better future potential in the second."

"Then 381 is off the table for other teams. Moving on to potential pairs…" The Marshall looked expectantly at the trio before him.

"Luke Beryl and Petro Berenko." Mako had regained to her calm demeanor as she pulled up the two bios on the pair Raleigh thought would be most successful. The two were both big men with matching, good natured personalities despite coming from very different backgrounds. The first was a Texan who was born and raised on oil fields while the second was a Ukrainian who travelled throughout Europe doing odd jobs before ending up in Hong Kong. Petro had originally worked on Cherno Alpha's support crew but had decided to try for a Jaeger when Marshall Hansen called for recruits. The only issue in their pairing was the Ukrainian's heavily accented and stilted English which would be solved when the pair Drifted.

"Similar test scores and strong personality matches." Tendo added his approval of the pair with a nod. They were the best match based on simulations

Herc Hansen read through both bios quickly, considering the pair. "Which Jaeger would you put them in?"

"397. They're both brute force fighters." Raleigh told the Marshall. He thought the pair would be perfect for the massive Jaeger.

"Good choices. Next?" Herc kept the meeting going, as if actually attempting to gain time off before the next disaster.

"Ariel Garza and Finn Kingsley." Mako supplied the names.

"Both fluid fighters. Ariel was born on the Baja Peninsula, Finn's family immigrated to the United States from South Africa just before the first Kaiju attack." The Marshall read aloud from the bios as he considered the information. "Which Jaeger?"

Raleigh scanned his notes on the pair. "402. They're both fast. Finn was a college track star; he would have had Olympic potential in the pre-Kaiju world. We're planning to start them on blade work and Aikido."

Herc nodded. "Sounds good. Last pair?"

Mako and Raleigh glanced at each other before Raleigh spoke "Alice Flint and Arlington."

Herc looked up at the pair of Rangers with a questioning look. "A historian and a former Marine?"

Mako nodded. "They have very compatible scores despite the differences. Similar pairings have worked well in the past." She had pushed Raleigh to agree to the pair. He had eventually given in but the differences still seemed insurmountable to him. Their original backgrounds too different to be overcome. He was putting his faith in Mako's knowledge for this potential pair.

"We don't have a better third pair?" Hansen was as reserved on the pair as Raleigh.

"No one else has better than 55% matches in the sims. Best option unless we wait for the next class of recruits." Choi supplied reluctantly.

Herc sighed and the circles under his eyes seemed to stand out more. "Put them in the sim for 445. Well hold off on it until we know how well the other pairs are Drifting together. Who knows? Maybe we'll get lucky again. We can't afford to stretch you two out further and try to add new recruits on top of the Jaeger pairs. Focus on them for now and we'll figure out something if it goes to hell."

The Marshall turned his attention to Choi. "What's the word on Gipsy Danger?"

"She's coming along slower than we had hoped. The factories are getting pieces and equipment out as fast as possible but with the resource shortages; they're not in any kind of order. Plus there's a bug running around the bays so some of the crew members are sick." The technician didn't seem optimistic.

"Is Angel's hand an issue?" Raleigh jerked at Herc's words. He wasn't sure what her explanation for the injury had been, Mako noticed his reaction but the two men didn't.

Tendo shrugged. "Slightly but she's delegating better than she used to and getting around it."

Herc narrowed his eyes. "Have you gotten an explanation on what happened?"

"She claimed it got hit when she was updating the paneling on Green Beast's side. Broke one bone in her ring finger and cracked another in her middle finger."

"Angel showed up with a broken hand a few days ago. We've been trying to get details since then. She's been rather vague and we're worried it had something to do with another sabotage attempt she's keeping from us since she knows we're already stretched thin." Hansen explained to the Rangers.

Raleigh wasn't sure what to do. Nikki would have had a good reason to lie but he also knew it was stupid to keep anything from the Marshall. Mako gave him a reprieve when she said she would ask Mia for details and Herc agreed to drop the issue for the time.

The Marshall ended the meeting with ordering the two Jaeger pilots to inform the trainees of the decisions and begin giving the pairs training assignments.

The Rangers spent all of lunch debating how to tell the trainees their partners and potential jaegers. After little progress they settled for being straightforward. There was no real way to cushion the importance and danger of the role the men and women were about to take on.

The pair walked into the dojo a little late for the usual training practice. All the trainees were waiting in various clusters.

Raleigh faced the group and his face was enough to silence the murmurs. "Decisions have been made." Murmurs broke out; the group knew what that meant. "Twins, Garza, Flint, Arlington, Beryl, Kingsley, Belenko. Stay. Everyone else is dismissed. Thank you for your assistance in the program. You will be notified when the next round occurs if you wish to try again."

Her partner was blunter than Mako had intended but it did the job. After a moment of communal hesitation, the unmatched trainees filtered out after a few minutes of congratulations and grumbling to the remaining eight.

"Congratulations." Mako took over the meeting when Raleigh seemed disinclined to continue. "You are the next Jaeger pilots." It was difficult to hold the attention of the eight. They were all surveying each other, trying to figure out who they were matched with. Except the twins; they had simply settled for fist bumping before moving to the back of the group.

Mako gave up keeping to her planned speech after a moment of nervous shuffling. The trainees wouldn't pay attention to anything till they knew who they were working with. "Xander and Mia you're obviously together." The twins' smiles widened but they didn't move.

"Beryl and Belenko." The two men grinned at each other and moved to stand next to each other. Petro Belenko was calm while Luke Beryl bounced on his feet.

"Garza and Kingsley." The pair high fived. They had become friends during training and were glad to be matched together.

"Arlington and Flint." The final two glanced at each other but stayed separate. They would need the most time adjusting.

"We will be beginning pair training and assigning Jaegers tomorrow. You will be living with each other beginning tonight. Techs will assign you rooms. You will soon have your co-pilot in your head. Do not wait till then to get to know each other. Talking is the most useful thing for you now. If Raleigh and I are unavailable tomorrow due to an attack, meet here at ten and spar with your co-pilots."

The pairs left slowly, some with excitement others with hesitation though the twins hung back. Mako seemed to immediately know why.

"You are both staying in your regular room tonight. I will be talking to Angel later and you'll be moving to pilot barracks tomorrow."

Xander nodded once before an excited Mia dragged him from the dojo with and excited "Thanks!" thrown at Mako.

**…**.

Mako and Raleigh watched the new teams spar. They each needed to find a fighting style that worked well for both as a combination of their individual skills and the extra abilities gained with their combined natures. Gipsy Danger's street fighting style was an amalgamation of Mako's discipline and knowledge of multiple traditional fighting styles and Raleigh's improvisational ability in combat and the brute strength and determination he brought to each combat.

The twins were easy, they had grown up with fight training and their combined style of close quarters combat was closest to Krav Maga.

Mako had designed the program for Luke Beryl and Petro Belenko using an improved version of the Greco/Roman wrestling style used by Cherno Alpha and adding in elements of the Pankration martial art.

Ariel Garza and Finn Kingsley were more difficult to find a style for. Neither Mako or Raleigh specialized in their area of intense speed and double handed combat. Having video conferenced with several specialists, the two Rangers had decided on a combination of Eskrima weapons training and Aikido martial arts. They were currently finding a second option if the pairing disliked either style or struggled.

Rather than trying to change Arlington's already impressive combat training, Mako and Raleigh agreed that having him teach Alice Flint the aspects of the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program that he had grown up learning. They hoped it would help strengthen the pair's bond and give them a basis to add other combat styles onto in the future.

After four hours of supervising the sparring pairs, Raleigh could say that he was much more optimistic of the new pilots and their skills. The Jaeger Corps' future was uncertain to say the least, but he no longer thought the entire weight of its survival rested on his and Mako's shoulders.

Mako came up alongside her partner and they silently watched the eight future pilots end their practices and split up to go to their respective locker rooms. The pairings were still fluctuating in strength but the group as a whole was strong.

"I have a meeting with Tendo to review some recent rift data if you want to join us?" Raleigh glanced over at his co-pilot. He had been considering going for a run on the outer decks and another meeting sounded torturous.

"I've been promised pizza if I meet him in mission control."

Raleigh immediately reconsidered his run idea. "Real pizza? Not dining hall cardboard?"

Mako's lips twitched at his question. "Pepperoni. He's bribed a tech runner to bring it in from the city."

Raleigh decided he could suddenly survive another meeting.

**…..**

The Rangers entered mission ops to the strange sight of Tendo half hidden under the main control panel, only his legs visible, with Nikki sitting on top cross-legged handing him pieces of circuitry board while trying to eat pizza at the same time with her broken and splinted hand.

Raleigh blinked once before following Mako to the two open boxes sitting on a nearby desk. These days, with food rationing and living in the Shatterdome, pizza was not only hard to find, but cost an arm and a leg.

Nikki swallowed. "Mori and Becket are here."

"What?" Tendo slid out from under the computer system. "Oh. You're early Mako. And you brought Becket. You do know he's going to steal all the pizza don't you?"

**….**

**Bolded generic statement still wants reviews!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Happy K-day! Somewhere in a parallel universe, San Fransico is being destroyed. **

**Anyway, sorry this chapter has been delayed, life's been a bitch lately.**

**To answer a few questions: Arlington is just Arlington, no first or last name. It will be explained later. There is a chunk of OC character development coming so if you like that, yay! If not, sorry? **

**And this story doesn't have a couple. It's not Raleigh/Mako or Raleigh/OC. There is a chance that may change far down the line but that's a very slim chance. One of the main motivations for writing this story was the strong individuals who aren't defined solely by their relationships within the movie and I want to continue that within the story. Hope that all makes sense!**

**Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, favorite, and followed! Keep it up and I'll love you forever!**

**…...**

Junk food nights became standard practice for the four when their schedules allowed it. It was a rare time when they could relax without the constant attention of the shatterdome on them. Tendo often worked while the group took over mission control, his ability to multitask a valuable skill. Nikki was the least common member, she disliked leaving the bays unwatched and though her hand kept her from actively working in most areas, she still oversaw almost every element of repairs on Beast and the continuing construction of Gipsy.

Both techs had an uncanny ability for showing up with some of the most heavily rationed items. When Tendo showed up a few nights before with two bars of solid dark chocolate, Mako had almost lost it. It had been adorable.

At the moment though, Raleigh was thinking about coke. Real honest to god Coca Cola from the U.S. Well, technically Russia but it still counted. He hadn't had any in years and Tendo claimed to know someone who had a supply despite the rationing and was willing to sell several cases of it.

Annoyance flashed through the drift and shifted Raleigh's train of thought. "We've got ten minutes to ground Mako. Let me think of junk food."

"I don't care about your thoughts, just the specific subject matter." Her annoyed but amused tone filtered through his helmets.

"Pepsi is not an alternative Mako! Coke always has been and always will be superior!" They were both hanging on to any sense of normalcy for as long as they could. Playful banter was easiest for them under the circumstances, plus they really did disagree on Coke vs. Pepsi. Raleigh would swear it was an important issue.

"Rangers. Focus" The Marshall's irritated voice cut through the conn-pod before Mako could reply. "You are five minutes from New Zealand and Auckland would like to stay intact with your assistance. The Kaiju, code name Ngarara, is currently just outside the Hauraki Gulf and moving slowly for a Category three. You will be dropped in the mouth of the bay and are instructed to hold it. Let's keep the perfect score going."

"Hai Marshall._ Ika wa kesshite nani mo_." Mako and Raleigh spoke as one as they deepened their Drift connection till it was impossible for them to differentiate one set of thoughts from another, Mako's birth language flowed naturally from both.

"Prepare for deployment." Tendo's tense voice echoed for a heartbeat then they felt weightless, above it all, as the cables detached and before Green Beast freefell into the Gulf. The massive Jaeger performed a perfect three point landing, shaking the ground below and sending a tidal surge in all directions. Since falling from the outer atmosphere after killing Otachi, several hundred yards was nothing to the pilots.

As seconds turned into minutes with no sign of the Kaiju, Raleigh opened a com channel to mission control. "Tendo?"

"Hold. The Kaiju's closing. Satellite imagery is showing similarities to Leatherback. Be careful" The LOCCENT Officer went silent, letting the Rangers immerse themselves into their surroundings as the attack approached.

Sure enough, a gray and black form leapt from the water a moment later, a bellow accompanying it. Nagarara was a longer Kaiju, lower to the ground with a blunt face and skull meant for ramming and a short but muscular tail.

Green Beast planted its feet and turned into the attack, one shoulder going low to catch the Kaiju and throw it over the Jaeger using the creature's forward momentum against it. Raleigh was always impressed with how easily Mako could plot trajectories and speeds of creatures as large as the Kaiju with such precision.

Ngarara twisted in mid air and acid spewed from its mouth at the Jaeger. Mako and Raleigh brought the arms together with an echoing crash, the recently updated, wider shield panels on each arm took the brunt of the attack and shielded the rest of the Jaeger. Raleigh could swear he felt it itching up his arm though; the phantom pain sending small tremors through his bad arm.

The Kaiju landed a few hundred yards away in a rolling mass of limbs and tail, tearing rocks and debris from the sea floor and sending into the air, towards the city.

"Fucking acid." Raleigh didn't know if his thought was spoken out loud or just in the Drift though he knew Mako agreed. Neither saw a visible acid sac that could be destroyed to disarm the Kaiju so they would have to go for the quick kill or risk another acid bath.

Mako triggered the spin blade on her arm and Raleigh felt the entire Jaeger shake as the blade picked up speed. It was a dull roar to the pilots but to anyone outside the Jaeger, the blade was a shrieking whirlwind of heated metal and certain death.

Kaiju met Jaeger and the creature slipped under Mako's first and second slash attempts, using its stockier body to an advantage.

Ngarara spewed acid but Raleigh's fist caught the creature under its extended jaw, snapping its head up. Acid flew into the air and fell as neon rain as Green Beast disengaged from the Kaiju and dove out of the acid's path. Falling acid had the potential to eat through the conn-pod and if it hit neural wiring, there was no way of knowing what would happen to the Drifting pilots or the Jaeger's operating systems.

After another unsuccessful grappling attack with neither behemoth gaining any ground, Raleigh studied the Ngarara as the battling pair broke apart. Any other Kaiju would have rushed towards the civilian population given half a chance but this Kaiju was intent on the Jaeger.

_I know. I see_. Mako's confirmation of Raleigh's observations flooded the drift for a split second before the Category three Kaiju dove under the water, leaving the Rangers to try to track its movements in the dark water with the aid of the helicopter's beacons.

"Left!" Tendo's warning came a moment too late as Ngarara emerged, its short claws clipping Green Beast's left leg as the Jaeger spun towards the assault.

Mako triggered the spin blade in the same movement and the cauterizing blade caught the Kaiju below its wide neck as it tried to re-submerge and was dragged down its back. Blue blood spilled into the water, reflecting the military spotlights that hovered above the battle, as the heated blade only managed to partially cauterize the wound. Water and Kaiju blood frothed as the creature keened and spasmed.

"Severed spinal column." Mako's harsh voice cut through the silence of the conn-pod.

"Let's put it out of its misery." Raleigh would have nothing better than to have watched the Kaiju die slowly, but they needed a confirmed kill and there was no real reason other than revenge to wait on the dying Kaiju.

Mako's arm dropped and Ngarara twitched once more before it stilled, black water rippling around its bulky form.

"Ngarara confirmed kill." Tendo's voice came through the speakers a few minutes later as the readings came through mission control. "Five out of five Rangers. Not bad." Raleigh could hear the other man's grin. "Not bad at all."

**…...**

Raleigh leaned against the railing, watching the bay and its workers. It seemed quieter today, he didn't know if it was because he was getting used to the controlled chaos that thrived in the bays or if it was actually quieter. Green Beast had come home almost completely intact last night after all which meant there was less for the support crews to do at the moment.

The crew he had specifically come to watch was on the catwalk that ran parallel to Green Beast's massive body, clearing paint guns and supplies from the work space. Five massive red K's were now drying on the section of plating above and to the left of the reactor. He wasn't sure why he had mentioned the idea to Nikki originally but knowing now that anyone who saw the Jaeger knew its kill count gave the pilot a fierce sense of pride. It wasn't his kill count or Mako's it was Green Beast's.

"Are you still going to the meeting with Herc?" Nikki came along side him and rested her bad hand on the railing. Her first three fingers were taped together while a brace held the joints in her hand and her wrist immobile.

Raleigh found himself nodding. "Yeah. I was heading to the conference room soon."

"It's in five minutes."

Raleigh signed and rolled his eyes before pushing away from the railing. He had lost track of time again. It was so easy to do in the massive bays when you felt inconsequential next to the massive Jaeger forms.

"You really need a watch."

"Apparently. You coming?"

Nikki nodded and followed him.

"So why didn't you tell Hansen the real way you broke your hand?" Raleigh asked as they made their way through the halls.

"He worries about everything, the stupid things I do to myself shouldn't be on his list of things to deal with at the moment."

"But he thinks it might have been another sabotage attempt that you dealt with without telling him about."

Nikki nodded. "I know. Mako mentioned it to me. I'm telling him after the meeting today. How are the twins doing?" She asked in a sudden change of topic.

"Good. They're getting along with the other pilots well and they're the best pair in combat at the moment." Raleigh pushed open the door to the conference room and held it for Nikki. They were the first there. "Anything I should know about?"

"Nah. They're just trying to convince me to take them into Hong Kong this weekend and I'm saying no based on their need to train." Nikki told him as she sat.

Raleigh silently agreed. The twins didn't need any distractions at the moment.

Mako came through the door a moment later looking irritated but thoughtful. It was a standard look these days whenever she finished meeting with Newton.

"What's Newt's new miracle plan today?" Raleigh asked his partner with a grin as he spun slightly in his chair.

"We're looking into new weapon ideas and he was in a particularly…creative mood." Mako told him as she took the chair next to him. "His most recent plan involves sound waves."

"Why?" Raleigh asked after several confused minutes trying to understand how sound waves could be used against Kaiju.

"We know there are some similarities between Kaiju and the reptiles of our world. Some of which are disoriented by strong vibrations. I believe he is working off that hypothesis." Mako shrugged. "It is a better plan than last week's."

Tendo and Herc came in a few minutes later during which Nikki and Mako passed the time discussing the validity of Newt's ideas and their small success rate.

"So should we assume that all meeting times are fifteen minutes after we're told to show up?" Nikki immediately asked with a grin. Tendo grinned slightly while Herc didn't even manage that much. Raleigh got the distinct impression that he had missed something since the last official meeting.

"How bad are the crews?" The Marshall asked after a moment of paper shuffling.

Nikki went from joking to serious in a heartbeat. "Bad. I've lost six to the medical center due to high fevers, hallucinations, and needing fluids. Most of the twenty five only have moderate symptoms. There were a few who wanted to try to work through the sickness but a few hours ago, dizziness was added onto the symptom list. Hunter almost fell off the low catwalk so I've started barring anyone with any symptoms from the bays."

"We don't have a diagnosis or source yet?" With the question, Hansen turned his attention to Tendo who shook his head.

"All confirmed cases are within the bay crews except for two within the dining hall staff which gives us a basic area for the contamination and the projections show it beginning between noon yesterday and before Green Beast returned to bay after midnight.

"So we have a twelve hour time period when only Jaeger crew members came in contact with something in the dining hall that made them sick?"

Tendo, Nikki, and Mako all nodded.

"Best case scenario, it was an issue of contaminated food that just got lucky and hit crew members. They eat in groups so it's entirely possible." Tendo fiddled with a pen as he spoke.

"But not probable." Mako seemed to take the negative side. "Considering the average number of individuals who pass through the mess hall during those hours, the odds are that it wasn't chance or accident."

"So we've either got really shitty luck or the saboteurs are back and going after crew? What do they stand to gain?" Herc summarized

"They've done a good job just slowing us down. I've had to completely shut down production on Gipsy Danger and Green Beast's heating element is behind on being updated. Beast is technically combat ready but can't cauterize any of its attacks which means a whole lot more Kaiju blue if we have another attack before I get my full crew back."

"How do we stop this from happening again and insure no further sabotage attempts on any part of the Shatterdome?" The Marshall's question was directed at himself more than the room but Mako and Tendo did have a few proposals.

After almost an hour of discussion they had decided on a set of procedures for locking down the entire Shatterdome in case of another sabotage attempt. Jaeger bays were off limits to everyone but crew members, Corps officers, and pilots and would have better alarm systems installed throughout on all levels.

"What about physical attacks within Dome? We know now that the crews are a vague target, pilots are the next logical step if they want to cripple the PPDC's defense efforts." Tendo asked Herc after noting the resources needed for the alarms in his tablet.

"We'll be rerunning background checks on personnel working in any area within the Shatterdome, anyone who doesn't meet the new standards will be compensated for their time and offered a job elsewehere. The United Nations will be sending guards with the knowledge and training necessary to protect the dome and everyone within it. The specific unit has been stationed in Europe for several years and has been screened for anyone with ties to Kaiju worship communities or other potential saboteurs."

"Aren't the U.N. police a little more into peace-keeping than protection?" Raleigh interrupted the Marshall who glared at him for a brief moment.

"They are specialists with thorough military training from various nations. As a subsidiary of the United Nations Defense Coalition, the PPDC uses their defense personnel. We can't afford private contractors."

Mako elbowed Raleigh under the table. She apparently agreed with Herc's decision to bring in the U.N. guards or just disproved of his interruption.

"Lethal force as a defense will only be authorized by in absolutely necessary circumstances however, the U.N force and Rangers will have the authority to diagnose and address the circumstances personally if necessary. Make sure the new class of Rangers understands that responsibility. You are a line of defense in the war and in the Shatterdome." Hansen's voice was deadly serious. "I'm not telling you to put yourself in front of a gun, but you have the training to deal with deadly force attacks. If necessary use whatever means necessary to protect yourself and the Jaegers. Rangers and Jaegers are our best assets. They must be protected."

Raleigh could almost feel the physical pressure of this responsibility, added on to everything he and Mako were already responsible for. He knew he was capable of protecting himself and his team, but to be given that authority was still burdensome. It didn't help that every situation that was being discussed was hypothetical. It was difficult to plan for an attack if you didn't know what it was or if it was even coming. Despite the vague nature of potential attacks, they had managed to put the groundwork in to ensure the continuing safety of the Jaegers and their teams.

By the end of the meeting, Raleigh decided he liked fighting Kaiju better. It was much more straight forward.

Hansen adjourned the meeting when he realized he was late for a U.N. Conference that had been scheduled to update the various government officials on everything occurring in the Shatterdome.

"Is it really too much for us to have three days without something going horrifically wrong?" Tendo asked the room at large with a frustrated sigh as he slid a stack of papers over to Mako. "New design plans from Newt and verified by Hermann, I need your input on the wave frequency generation."

He pulled another stack from under his tablet and handed it to Nikki. "And for you Angel, we need to check the power distribution grid within the projected Jaegers for their weapon systems. I've got another meeting to get to with the other mission control officers. I'll find both of you tomorrow if I don't see you tonight."

"I'll review it and have it ready." Mako told Tendo evenly as he stood and gathered everything. Nikki settled for a nod, already scanning through the paperwork, her brows knit in concentration.

"You got time for lunch?" Raleigh asked his co-pilot as she stood to follow Tendo. She nodded and he glanced at Nikki. "You too? The twins are running a Green Beast simulation after lunch. You could come watch them."

"Can't. I've got a conference call with the main Jaeger armor plating production facility in ten minutes. We've got to go over the alloy percentages for 381. I'm sure I'll hear all about the sim eventually." Nikki never looked up from the paperwork. Raleigh shrugged and the Rangers left her to the solitude of the conference room.

**…...**

"Hey Tendo?" Xander's calm voice came from the doorway causing the tech and two Rangers to turn. Mission ops was empty except for the trio and their pizza boxes and apparently now the twins. Raleigh was surprised to see them, after the Green Beast sim they had mentioned sleep then food, neither of which would bring them to the control room.

"What's up? Tendo put the circuit board he had been soldiering down carefully and brushed off his hands.

"Nikki grabbed us before we went to dinner. She said we needed to see you?" Mia's voice was curious, asking for answers. Her twin's face matched her tone.

Tendo just sighed, a long suffering sound. "Your sister is incredibly overprotective." Raleigh struggled to stop a grin at Nikki's maneuvering to keep the twins out of the dining hall. He didn't know if her idea or Tendo's face was funnier. From across him, he could see Mako's smile before she went back to her food.

Xander shrugged and walked into the room with Mia a step behind, her hands behind her back. "Tell us something we don't know. Why exactly is she being overprotective this time? There have been a bunch of rumors the last few days but no one knows what's going on."

"Pizza then I'll explain. If I don't feed you now, I'll never hear the end of it." The tech told the twins as he gestured towards the mostly full boxes. The pair grinned and went straight for the food.

As she walked past, Mia dropped a box on the desk next to Raleigh. Red with faded white cursive lettering. He could hear glass clink as it shifted around. "Nikki told me to give it to you."

"Yes!"Raleigh grabbed the box and tore off the cardboard lid, fishing out one of the iconic bottles, opened it on the corner of the desk, and slid it across to Mako before grabbing his own. He decided he didn't mind the interruption of the twins tonight.

"What have you heard?" The LOCCENT Officer questioned the twins evenly as they split half of one of the remaining pizzas.

"The recent accidents haven't been actual accidents." Mia summed it up quickly.

"But no one knows who is doing it or why." Xander added, pulling pepperoni off his pieces and tossing it on Mia's plate.

"That's pretty much all we know. I think the Marshall's planning to do a official debriefing with the pilot class soon." Tendo told the twins before returning to the circuitry he had been working on. It apparently had to be done by tomorrow for Gipsy Danger's new control system.

"So is your sister always this overprotective?" Raleigh asked as he went to get another piece.

"Yes." He was surprised when confirmation came from everyone in the room rather than just the twins.

"Her over protectiveness is widely know. It's hard not to notice when she argued with Marshall Pentecost in the full dining hall." Tendo elaborated for the Ranger.

"In her defense, we didn't exactly make it easy on her. Especially after Dad…." Mia broke off at Xander's protesting laugh.

"I don't know what this 'we' is. I'm the easy going one." He added air quotes to the statement.

"Liar! You tried to stow away in Vulcan Specter!"

"Did not!"

"I'm sorry what?" Raleigh couldn't stop himself from asking.

"Xander tried to stowaway on Vulcan Specter when we lived in Sydney a few years ago." Mia explained helpfully.

Her twin just slid lower in his seat."I was nine and didn't even make in through the main entrance to the bays so it didn't actually happen."

"You were very proud of your plan though." Mako's amused smile seemed to stop any further arguments between the twins as Xander struggled for a response and Mia laughed at her twin.

The night devolved from there as the twins told stories from their days growing up in the Sydney and Los Angeles Shatterdomes while Mako added her own from the Tokyo Shatterdome and her travels with Pentecost. Tendo spent half the time working silently, the other half giving Raleigh context for the stories which mostly occurred during his time away from the Corps.

As the twins left, Raleigh realized how therapeutic talking was for them and for him and Mako. The few short hours had given him a better understanding of the twins and had served to ground him after the last few days of meetings and fighting Ngarara. It was easier to fight when you had a reminder of what waited afterwards, what normalcy felt like.

"We should do something like that with the other trainees. It might help them connect better as pairs and as a larger group." Raleigh suggested to Mako as they walked through the quiet halls of the dome.

She nodded. "I'll take care of it."

"You're the best Mako."

"Don't forget it."

**…...**

Hours later, Raleigh stared at his ceiling. His bed was empty, all blankets and pillows had been thrown to the floor as he thrashed.

He couldn't close his eyes; the strange world he had glimpsed through Gipsy's broken conn-pod rose up every time he tried. His worst memories ate at the corners of his mind, fighting for attention as he tried to push them away. He didn't know why the nightmares were so bad tonight but they left him tense and sweating. He traced the seam between two metal plates in the ceiling above his bed, counting the rivets holding them together slowly.

All he knew was that the good and the bad were fighting for dominance within his memories. Yancy's ghost floated just beyond his reach, trying to tell him something, while the sounds of death and the bellows of Kaiju echoed in his head.

**…...**

**REVIEW! Please?**


	13. Chapter 13

**Not really sure what to put here this time, this chapter is pretty self explanatory. Mako and Raleigh deal with their angst and everyone attacks each other. A pretty normal day in the Pacific Rim world.**

**Thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, favorited, and followed. Every little bit of motivation helps these days!**

**…...**

* * *

Mako was worried. For her other half, for the Shatterdome, for the Jaeger Corps, and for the world. The rest could wait though, Raleigh was more important. She knew exactly where her own scars were, physical and mental. Raleigh was still trying to hide and ignore his.

She watched her partner who was currently observing and instructing Ariel and Finn as the pair sparred. She didn't like the growing bags under his eyes, the way his shoulders hunched when he thought no one was watching, the way his hands tightened around his staff without cause, and the fact that she knew he was lying every time he told someone he was fine.

While no one left in the Shatterdome was fine, they at least recognized it. Raleigh was alone in his stubborn belief that he truly was fine or at least would be, if he faked it for long enough.

The last few times they had drifted, she had felt his sorrow and pain at the last few years but underneath it all was a fundamental belief in his own guilt that was eating away at him from the inside out. He believed that if he had acted differently when Knifehead had attacked, the world would better. He carried what he saw as the guilt of Yancy's death and every Jaeger pilot since then including Sensei and Chuck Hansen's with him. He did a good job hiding it though, acting as though he really was recovering. She only knew because of their drifts and Herc Hansen was the only other possible person who could even guess at what kept the Ranger up at nights.

Mako had grown up worrying and nothing had changed about that. Having been unable to really help Jaeger pilots and the people she cared about for so many years while she grew and Sensei tried to protect her had been difficult. She hated feeling helpless. It was different now though, she was strong enough and capable to do something this time.

**…...**

Raleigh leaned against his staff, watching Garza and Kingsley exchange blows in a whirlwind of limbs and blunt blades. The pair moved so fast, never stopping even for a second that the rhythm and movements would be impossible for anyone less than an expert fighter to keep track of. They were unmatched by any other Jaeger pair in speed. Raleigh tried to hide his approval as he watched them, Ariel and Finn were good pair, and they could be a great one soon. Their only issue was that they knew how good they were, and their combined ego could prove problematic.

He glanced over at Mako, it had been three nights in a row now that she had knocked on his door and they ended up wrestling for control of the blankets and pillows in his small bed. He didn't…couldn't…say it but he was glad every time and she knew it despite his abysmal communication abilities. Sleep was beyond his reach if his partner wasn't near him. The alien memories and Yancy's dying thoughts were there every time his eyes closed now. He had to be fine though; for her and for everyone relying on him. Nothing less than perfect.

"Point." Raleigh called out as the flat of Ariel's left blade smacked against the back of Finn's head. They continued on for another few minutes, but when Finn failed to match the point, Raleigh called time. The group had to move on.

"You all have a meeting with the Marshall in fifteen. Mako and I will not be there so I expect to hear nothing from him other than you are the best damn future pilots he's ever seen." Raleigh told the eight as they clumped together in front of him. "Get showered and changed. Be in the main conference room on time. Once the Marshall is done, grab lunch and meet back here. Dismissed."

The groups split quickly, leaving Mako and Raleigh alone for an hour or two while the newest Rangers were briefed on the sabotage attempts and new security measures within the Dome. Raleigh started to go for the locker room, planning on a solo run during the free time but was stopped when Mako tapped him on the back with the base of her staff.

"Pretty sure we're fine without sparring today." Considering the regular Kaiju attacks, sparring was redundant for the pair.

"We don't need it. You do." Mako told him evenly.

Raleigh started to hesitate but was forced to defend when Mako didn't wait, striking at his chest with a sharp blow. He slid to the side, barely avoiding gaining a new bruise and rolled, grabbing his staff with the movement before coming up into a low crouch.

"What's this about?" He didn't think he had managed to piss her off recently. He blocked another attack with his staff and disengaged, backing up a few steps.

"You and your inability to let go. You're viewing yourself and placing yourself worth only on your tragedies and faults." Mako swung her staff out, forcing Raleigh to duck. He realized she wasn't going to give up and he had to engage or lose.

"What do you want Raleigh?" He was surprise by the force behind Mako's words as he shifted to the side, seeking a hole in her defense before attacking. He hesitated while considering her words and had to roll to avoid another hit.

"I want Yancy back." He practically threw the words at Mako who brushed the away.

"You can't have that. I miss Sensei but I know I can't have him and I've accepted that. Move past the impossible. Why are you still fighting?" She punctuated her words with a series of shallow, fast strikes.

Raleigh was purely moving on the defense now, struggling to find an answer while Mako kept pushing him. They were on the edge of the mat now. A single step and he could fall off.

Sudden anger washed over him. Who was Mako to question him? She hadn't had to listen to Yancy scream as he was pulled from Gipsy's conn-pod. She hadn't spent years living with the people who built the wall in a desperate bid for meager rations and a false sense of security.

"I'm fighting so that no one else has to!" He lashed out, blocking her incoming blow and kicking under it. His foot caught her side and Mako rolled away, letting him move forward. "I'm fighting because it's the one thing I know I'm good at! I'm fighting so no one else looses their family! I'm fighting because it means one day I willn't have to anymore!"

They were back in the middle of the mat, both breathing heavily as Mako dropped her staff, grabbing his in mid strike, stopping the spar. "What do you want?" She put soft but heavy emphasis on the last two words as Raleigh realized he hadn't thought about that in months or even years. His life had been a constant series of pointless actions for years, following orders or moving anywhere but forward.

The words formed as quickly as he could grasp the desire he had kept hidden from himself but Mako had still manage to know was there. "I want to be able to retire one day knowing with absolute certainty, that the world is safe from Kaiju."

He let his staff go when Mako tugged gently and she tossed it to the side of the mat. "Good." She rested her forehead against his and he felt his eyes close as he listened to his much wiser partner. "Think of that not the past, not your failures. You are not guilty for anything that has happened. Everyone made their own choices. Forgive your past self and look to the future. There will be more failures; mine, your's, other's. Failure is inevitable in life but without it, there is no measure for success."

Raleigh let out a breath followed by a sudden laugh."I'm an idiot."

"Yes. You are." Mako agreed readily. "But everyone is in some fashion."

Raleigh wrapped his arms around her tightly. The hug conveying all the gratitude he could never easily voice. "Where would I be without you?"

"Lost. I would be too without you. We still have to fight but think of what you want until you have it." Raleigh nodded, bumping his forehead against hers softly. They stood there for an unknown amount of time, thinking of the simple future they both wanted.

The silence was finally broken by Raleigh's poorly timed but very loud stomach asking for food. "Lunch?" His voice took on a hopeful tone as he half asked permission, half persuaded her to come with him. Mako nodded and the pair left the dojo, their staffs still lying forgotten by the mat.

They barely made it back before the trainees, having spent the walk back arguing about Raleigh's impromptu idea for team bonding and training. They both knew that unique training was required for the pairings because of the lack of a formal Academy however Mako still thought that Raleigh's idea was a little too revolutionary.

"We're going on a little fieldtrip." Raleigh announced to the Rangers as they reassembled. Some seemed to notice his change in temperament while others didn't.

"We know you've spent the last few hours with the Marshall reviewing the recent…accidents. The responsibility of the knowledge you have been given is one of the hardest parts of this job and will never get easier. As Jaeger pilots it is our job to know what others cannot, fight what others cannot, and be what others cannot. In part because this is the first time you've had to deal the full weight of that responsibility, rather than return to formal training, Mako and I thought it would be better for you as pairs as well as a larger team to relax some while still working together. Follow me."

Mako and Raleigh lead the curious eight to the construction bays where a notified and already persuaded Nikki was waiting for them. "You all are good to go in the last bay, I managed to find everything. Keep it contained or I'll kick you all out." She told the group before letting them pass.

Raleigh waited behind the others to quickly thank Nikki for her help. He noticed the construction bays were closed to being back at full strength."The crews doing better?"

Nikki nodded. "Thankfully. I've got everyone back except six who are still recovering. You should probably catch up before Mako has enough time to reconsider your crazy plans."

Raleigh shrugged. "She hasn't gotten rid of me yet. I doubt this would be the tipping point."

Nikki rolled her eyes and walked back towards Gipsy Danger's growing form, already refocusing on her job as Raleigh split.

Following behind the group, Raleigh scanned the empty bays. Where Green Beast and Gipsy Danger were bringing life back to some of the bays, others still stood empty, a testament to the fallen. Raleigh didn't mean any disrespect to Cherno Alpha or its courageous pilots for what was about to occur in its former home, but it was a step forward for the entire team. They could bring a spark of life back to the hollow space.

"So what are we doin'?" Luke Beryl finally questioned Mako and Raleigh as the trainees milled around, curious but confused.

Raleigh ignored the question for a moment as he went to the open crate sitting against a wall and surveyed its contents. Nikki had done a decent job despite the short amount of time collecting them all.

"We are playing dodge ball." Raleigh told the team with a grin as he tipped the crate over. A few dozen balls of all types and condition rolled and bounced across the floor. Basketballs, tennis balls, foam balls, soccer balls, traditional dodge balls, ranging from new to ancient and torn bumped up against the surprised team. Some immediately like the idea while others seemed reserved.

"Simple rules. You work with your partner. If one of you gets hit, you're both out of the game. Jaegers only work with both pilots. If you catch the throw, you stay in. It counts as a blocked attack and the thrower is also still in. The entire bay is the battle field; use your surroundings to your advantage. The only off limits element are the harnesses. Jaegers can't fly."

He was interrupted by a pointed cough from Mako who was trying not to smile and failing. Raleigh knew she was thinking about the fight with Otachi just like he was. He pointed a commanding finger at his co-pilot. "That was a freefall Mako, it doesn't count as a flying Jaeger." The joke seemed to relax the entire room as they became more receptive to the idea of the game.

"You can only work with your partner. No alliances. In the real world we are a team, right now it's just you and your partner versus the world. They're all you got." Raleigh bent to pick up a slightly deflated soccer ball, scanning the other options. Some of them could barely be thrown because they were in such bad shape. Others, like a few of the basketballs would hurt like hell if it was a strong hit. He knew that Nikki had been the right person to ask for help in finding the balls. It was a universally acknowledged fact that Jaeger crews had sports equipment in the bays regardless of what Shatterdome you were in. It was how they passed the time when no repairs or updates were necessary on their charges.

Raleigh continued explaining his hastily thrown together rules. "There are no off limits attack areas. You need to learn to protect your entire body. If you get hit in the face, it's because you and your partner weren't good enough to stop the attack or need to work better together. Either way you learn from the hit. We play till there is only one team standing." Raleigh began tossing the soccer ball from hand to hand.

"Any questions?"

Xander and Mia were off running for the scaffolding, grabbing ammo as they went before Raleigh even finished speaking. Apparently the twins had a plan. They knew the bays almost as well as Mako and could be a serious threat in the game.

"You and Ranger Mori are playing?" Alice Flint took the least confrontational route as her partner grabbed the closest basketballs, going for heavy weaponry.

"Of course." Raleigh grinned and the pair took off, followed quickly by Beryl and Belenko who indiscriminately grabbed as much as they could carry.

Garza and Kingsley raced off the other direction, going for the lightest types of balls so they could carry more.

Raleigh glanced over at his co-pilot who picked up a tennis ball in each hand. "This might be a better idea than I initially thought." Mako admitted.

"Did you ever actually doubt me?"

"Only your sanity, never your devotion to their training."

Raleigh let out a laugh. "Game on!" His shout bounced through the bays and as it faded, silence fell for a split second before movement could be heard on the metal floors and a dodge ball flew from the scaffolding at Raleigh. Mako caught it in midair, holding on to her weapons the entire time.

"Should we be offended one of them thought that would actually work or should we be proud they went for the immediate attack?" Raleigh asked as he and Mako retreated below a catwalk. She shrugged and tossed the ball to him, giving him the go ahead to lead their attack.

He nodded. "Let's show them what real Rangers are capable of."

**…..**

It was almost an hour before the first team was out. The unique playing field and the athletic ability of every Ranger making the game harder than even Raleigh had expected. Multiple levels and opponents turned it into a test of endurance and cunning as much as a simple act of dodging. It was far more common for attacks to be caught rather than dodged as the pairs worked together.

Finn and Ariel were the first out, their speed was a valuable asset until they got ahead of their teamwork and both went on attack at the same time, leaving them open without any way to easily defend. Finn was taken out by a soccer ball square to the back and the pair were stuck watching the game from the floor for the rest of the time.

Luke and Petro quickly began hoarding balls from every failed attack and once the other teams ran low, they appeared from above, raining them down on the other pairs who were forced to dive for cover. Alice took advantage of their exposed position and slipped past the attack, taking out Belenko with a simple tennis ball to knee.

Raleigh was almost given a broken nose when he turned straight into a carefully targeted dodge ball that he barely managed to duck away from. He couldn't be sure who had thrown it but Mia's laughter bouncing through the massive bay gave him two culprits to choose from. The twins were taken out a few minutes later when Mako took offense to her partner almost being hit and went on the offensive. The two Reeses forgot her better knowledge of the catwalks and were both hit when they failed to pay close enough attention to their surroundings.

Raleigh was surprised that it was Arlington and Alice left against him and Mako but was impressed with their teamwork considering how little faith he had originally had in the match. They lasted almost fifteen minutes longer than the twins, loosing only when Arlington intercepted a sure hit going for Alice when neither was able to dodge or catch in a confined area of the catwalk.

The victorious, experienced Rangers made their way down to the bay floor to join the other teams. Raleigh was impressed by the sheer determination they had all brought to the game as well as the broad skill sets present.

"Not bad." Raleigh told the group.

Finn raised a hand and spoke when Mako nodded at him. "Can we do this again? I like it better than Ariel beating on me for half an hour."

Raleigh grinned and shrugged. "We'll see. Choi should have the individualized simulators done soon so training will be changing in a week or so."

Mako dismissed the trainees then left herself, stating that she wanted a hot shower before the locker rooms ran out due to the other Rangers arriving en mass.

Raleigh embraced the solitude of the empty bay as he meticulously searched for and collected all the weapons that had been used. It gave him time to think about everything he and Mako had talked about and technically fought over that morning.

He had never realized how many of his actions were motivated solely by the past. Since Yancy died, the future had never been more than a word, a concept. He could see now how he had been actively sabotaging himself by never thinking of it as a resource.

The past was a power source, it propelled him forward, forcing him to use the energy or be buried by it. The present was a weapon; it allowed him to do as he chose though he was confined by its circumstances. The future was the most valuable though; it gave him the chance to do whatever he wanted. He could never fix what happened in the past but if he was proactive and learned from his mistakes rather than simply dwelling on them, he could ensure that they never happened again. A quote he from his years in middle school flashed through his mind as he put the last of the balls away into their crate.

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

* * *

**…...**

**Yay! Another chapter done! Review it and I'll love you forever!**


	14. Chapter 14

**There is another little explanation at the bottom of the chapter if anyone cares.**

**I know my battle scenes are shorter than they probably should be. It's a lot harder to write giant robot/monster battles than I ever thought it would be but I delayed this chapter to work on it and hopefully that made a difference. If not I really do apologize. All reviews help me write future scenes better! (Just saying you should review)**

**This chapter originally was a fair amount of OC development but then it took on a life of its own so yeah…. That's been pushed to the next chapter.**

**Thank you to everyone reading this story and reviewing. I never thought it would have this many people who had even a slim interest in it. I honestly expected about five followers when I first started writing it. I blame the fact that its 2 a.m. for the blunt sentimentality. Sorry!**

**Anyway, did I mention thanks? Because really. Thank you. **

**And now on to the carnage:**

**…...**

Raleigh rushed into the drivesuit room, past the newly stationed United Nation guards who had arrived overnight. Anyone else would have had to show identification to have access to the locker room but the guards had apparently memorized each the appearance of each of the pilots before they were sent to Hong Kong. For heavily armed guards, they were rather inconspicuous. They wore PPDC navy blue fatigues like everyone else and each carried an M-4 carbine slung across their back and a 9 millimeter at their waist. If you weren't looking carefully, they could almost be mistaken for crew members loitering in the halls.

Mako was watching the main display in the locker room when Raleigh entered and took his place for the drive suit application. He stared at the ceiling listening to the soft buzz of the drills as the crews rushed around them, hurrying to get the pair into their drivesuits and into Green Beast. He silently willed them to go faster, he had been running on the outer deck in the fading sunlight when the alarm went off and was several minutes behind Mako in prep.

It didn't help that they were even more strained for time than usual. This particular attack had been a long time coming. Rifts had been opening in the Atlantic and Indian oceans for several weeks now and it had only been a question of when one of them would spit out a Kaiju, turning the war into a global affair rather than a Pacific region conflict.

A category three was two hundred miles off the coast of India, heading straight for Mumbai and its massive civilian population. The techs couldn't say why the breach didn't open closer to the shore like so many others had, but they were glad all the same. It gave them time to deploy and it gave the population time to brace for the incoming attack.

The two pilots quickly walked to the conn-pod in silence. They were about to be in each other's heads. Speech quickly became redundant. Green Beast seemed to embrace its pilots as the harnesses slid into place and everything fastened in preparation.

"Initiating Neural Drift." Tendo's even voice came over the radio as Mako's fragmented memories rushed through Raleigh's head and his own joined the mix. The combination was no longer so heavy, Mako's featured the years after Pentecost rescued her while his own were mostly of his childhood. They both intentionally shared the best of their memories for the first time since they began drifting together. It was a universal reminder of what could be again.

"Hemispheres holding steady." Tendo interrupted the silence a second time as the Jaeger came to life in a roar of reactor and metal.

"You got our trainees in there?"Raleigh asked mission control as his free hand flew over the internal controls, checking and double checking every system as Mako did the same on her side.

After yesterday's marathon dodge ball game, he and Mako decided to give the new pairs a different view of Jaeger combat that wasn't visible in the sims. The trainees were now under orders to observe all deployments from mission control so they gained a better understanding of how it worked from that side of the crew. If Mako and Raleigh were in a Jaeger, the teams were in mission control, from the time they initiated the Drift to the time the Jaeger returned to bay no matter how long it took. They needed to understand the commitment and energy put into every aspect of the combat from every part of the crew before they saw their own battles.

"Two out of the four. Twins and B-team." Mission control informed the pair. Raleigh felt Mako's amusement at the nickname that had been created for Beryl and Belenko's pairing. He didn't mind it but thought it was cheesy; though it did make it easier for him to yell at the pair during training.

"Make that all four." Tendo announced, breaking Raleigh's concentration on the Drift thoughts. "Other two just came in."

"Good enough. Cutting communications. Hail us fifteen minutes from assault position." Raleigh cut off the automatic communication system as soon as Tendo confirmed, giving the pair in the conn-pod privacy from the multitude of people working in mission control. Green Beast was soon attached to its support helicopters by the usual web of cables, leaving the pilots with little to do other than monitor the systems for the time being.

"What do you…?"

"Did you review the Kaiju specification details yet?" Mako interrupted Raleigh as he tried to bring up the other Jaeger pilots while they had complete privacy.

"Not really. I was focused on getting Green Beast in the air as soon as possible. Mumbai has none of the bunkers or Kaiju defense features that Pacific coast cities do. We couldn't afford to review it in base. I was about to." Raleigh admitted, adding the information he knew Mako already understood.

"I scanned it while they were bolting the suits on. The satellite imagery shows a lot of physical similarities to Knifehead. Tendo and Newt think it could even be a clone considering your reports of the factory like conditions beyond the original breach."

Yancy's fear and pain overrode every memory for a split second at her words and were followed quickly by blind panic. It was several seconds before Raleigh managed to regain control and crush all the loose emotions. Anger and determination took their place, burning out every trace of worry or fear. He wasn't going to lose to a fucking Kaiju no matter what it looked like and he sure as hell wasn't going to let the Kaiju hurt Mako, much less the innocent city and its people.

Raleigh knew Mako had felt it all with him but still voiced his thoughts. "Doesn't matter if it's a clone, a brother, or a long lost cousin. We kill Kaiju regardless of how ugly they are or who they look like and we'll kill this one like all the ones that came before it."

Mako nodded once. Raleigh could feel her determination and pride through the drift and he grinned.

Now that that was all settled, Raleigh and Mako spent the remainder of the flight talking about inconsequential things. They spent most of the time comparing notes on the new pairs and the recent updates to the Jaeger designs. Mako wanted to tweak several of the training regimens for the individual pairs and took pains to explain exactly why to her partner.

By the time the communication system clicked back on and Tendo interrupted, they had devolved to arguing about the fact that Raleigh's favorite chunky sweaters kept mysteriously migrating to Mako's room.

"You two are fifteen minutes out. We have confirmation that the Category three is as close to a clone of Knifehead as our satellite scans can tell. It's been given the designation 'Cākū'"

"We'll have to keep the attacks low. If we let the Kaiju's head get under any attack, the bladed ridge can rip off either arm or slice through the reactor." Raleigh spoke from memory of what he would have done differently if he could go back in time. He kept the statement simple for mission ops, knowing Mako could get his extended thoughts through the Drift. Part of him wanted to laugh at the irony of having finally defeated his personal demons only to have one literally rise from the dead. He clamped down on the impulse and let out a steadying breath. It was time to learn from history.

"Prepare for Jaeger deployment." Tendo's voice betrayed his slight worry though only those who had known him for years like Raleigh or Herc could tell. He had seen the aftermath of the initial Knifehead attack and the memories of having to watch that battle still gave him nightmares. The LOCCENT Officer now found himself back in the exact same position and he hated it.

"Good to go." Raleigh told mission control before being notified that the Kaiju was just within the city and they were being dropped only a few thousand yards away from the creature. Raleigh couldn't have asked for anything better to help them get a quick kill.

He glanced at Mako as the cables snapped back to the helicopters. "Ready?"

"Never anything less." Her words faded as the Jaeger landed in with a earth shaking thud; the pilots were in motion even as the Jaeger stilled from the fall. They took advantage of the close attack proximity and rushed the Kaiju before it could fully register the Jaeger or its position.

Buildings shook with each of Green Beast's foot falls as the Jaeger came up behind the Kaiju who was halfway through a warehouse. Mako and Raleigh's combined fists caught Cākū as it turned, impacting below the jaw line and snapping the creature back and into the side of another building.

The Kaiju's massive ridged nose sliced through the glass and steel of the building as the creature stumbled, the inherent destruction caused by such a simple action reminding the Jaeger pilots how dangerous this style of Kaiju was.

Glass and stone rained down on the streets of Mumbai which had thankfully been successfully deserted by its citizens. The roads and sidewalks were still filled with abandoned cars and vendor stalls, a testament to how quickly the civilians had evacuated. Debris from the Kaiju's ongoing rampage added to the congestion, creating a layer of unstable metal and stone that the Rangers had to factor into every attack. If Green Beast lost its footing, Cākū would be on them before the Jaeger even finished falling.

Raleigh grabbed cars and a portion of a fallen stone façade and flung it at the Kaiju as it pulled itself from the ruined building, giving him and Mako more time to analyze it and decide on a course of attack. The creature swatted one flying SUV from the air, sending it into the thirtieth floor of a nearby building.

Cākū bellowed. The sound shook every window for blocks as it rushed the Jaeger. The pilots shifted the Jaeger back a step and pivoted as the creature rushed them. Using its momentum Mako let it slide by and punched the heavily armored side of the Kaiju as it grazed the Jaeger, sending it into the pavement.

A single one of Cākū's shorter arms lashed out as it fell, its claws catching in Green Beast's lower plating and slicing through to the wiring beneath. Mako and Raleigh staggered as they tried to disengage while the Kaiju fought to pull the Jaeger down with it. Sparks flew as wiring snapped and Raleigh over corrected, sending Green Beast backwards into the side of a building. Mortar dust and glass shards filled the air as the conn-pod shook with the impact and the pilots were thrown back in their harnesses.

Raleigh could feel deep bruises beginning to form along his spine due to force of the hit and the spike of pain in the Drift told hem Mako had been hurt too. They were getting nowhere, getting close to the Kaiju meant getting torn up while their blows were doing almost nothing to its heavy armor.

"I've got an idea." Mako's calm voice reached Raleigh's ears as images flashed through his mind.

"Got it." He pulled a fist back and punched Cākū as the Kaiju lunged at the Jaeger, going for a low strike that would drive the bony ridge into Green Beast's chest and reactor. He successfully knocked the creature away, giving them a split second of breathing room as the Kaiju seemed to reconsider its attack.

Mako worked furiously on her display, channeling all available power into the spin blade. Raleigh heard it crank up with a furious roar that got louder with every passing second as it picked up speed.

"Ready." Mako told him calmly, bracing for the next attack. As Cākū dove at them, claws outstretched, Raleigh used his first blow to force the Kaiju attack upwards. The tip of the Kaiju's ridge sliced into Green Beast's chest, dangerously close to the reactor, setting off warning lights and flashing red notifications on the displays.

As metal split, Raleigh grabbed the creature just below its jaw and held it in place. The Kaiju fought the grip, claws sliced through wires on the arm as it struggled and Raleigh heard something snap. Tremors ran up his arm and he bit back a yell.

More warnings flashed, joining the first. Raleigh lost a portion of control in Green Beast's arm, the hand worked but the elbow joint was non-responsive. Muscles burned. He struggled to maintain the hold on Cākū long enough to give Mako the window she needed. "Any time!" Raleigh snapped as his co-pilot drew back the spin blade.

More warnings flashed on the opposite side of the conn-pod, indicating overheating in the spin blade, the weaker cauterizing unit was putting out every ounce of power Mako could manage in a desperate hope that it would be enough to cut through the heavier armor on Cākū.

The shrieking blade went though the bony armor of the Kaiju's ridge and struck cartilage, it seemed to stall for a moment and Mako cursed. The systems rallied as Tendo redirected power flow from the reactor and the blade cut though and punched out the top, severing two thirds of the ridge from the creature's head; effectively disarming it.

Cākū shook in Raleigh's weakening grip as a torrent of blue blood drenched the Jaeger and road, too much for the failing cauterizing system to handle. Mako drew back and slashed the spin blade across the Kaiju's immobile face as it roared and finally pulled free of Raleigh's hold. Neon blue coated its face and Raleigh thought it was now missing an eye.

Mako knocked the severed cartilage aside, clearing room for the next attack as Raleigh struggled to regain full control of the left hemisphere arm. His hand twitched along with Green Beast's and he could control the shoulder but everything in-between was locked in a ridged line.

"Tendo!" Raleigh yelled for answers as he and Mako watched the wounded Kaiju hit a building with its panicked and blind movements, taking half of it down in a storm of metal, wood, and glass.

He could hear the tech cursing. "The main support in Beast's forearm shattered and has jammed the elbow mechanism. The wiring system is intact so the hand is functional but there's nothing I can do to give restore full motion."

"Fuck." Raleigh glanced at Mako but before either could form a plan, Cākū roared and came at them. Running out of options, Raleigh twisted the Jaeger, putting the damaged half in front and made a fist before thrusting the malfunctioning arm straight at the Kaiju's chest.

Somehow the wounded creature failed to avoid the desperate attack, maybe due to its damaged vision, and took the hit straight on.

As it staggered backwards, Mako swung forward and slashed the spin blade across the Kaiju's throat and reversed, repeating the motion. The combined cuts were deep enough that the monster was partially beheaded, muscle and tendons split as what was left of its head fell back. The Kaiju shook once as blood spurted out from the wounds in a bright river. Cākū toppled forward, forcing to Raleigh and Mako to pull back to avoid being tackled. It hit the pavement with a sickening thud and lay still as blue blood began to pool among the cars and buildings.

"Tendo?" Raleigh tried to keep the desperation from his voice. He was almost positive the Kaiju was dead but if it somehow wasn't, he wasn't sure the Jaeger could manage much more.

"Confirmed Kill. Cākū is dead. Thank god." Tendo muttered the last two words but they still came through the comm system clearly. Mako let out a desperate half laugh and lowered her guard.

Raleigh immediately began detaching from the harness system, carefully moving around his arm which was shaking uncontrollably from the exertion and system damage. He cursed as an electrical shock ran through the drivesuit. Hearing him, Mako quickly cut the drift. Both pilots felt the connection sever with a severe snap as she disengaged her harness, coming over to help him. A quick cut like that would hit them in a few hours but they didn't have energy to focus on that now.

"You need to be more careful. You're running out of arms." His co-pilot told him with a slight grin as Raleigh was slowly freed.

There were several minutes of silence as the pair waited for mission control to give them orders. Herc Hansen was the one to finally break the silence. "Rangers we're going to air lift you from the top of Green Beast's conn-pod. The damage readings we're getting are serious and we don't want to carry you back to base in the Jaeger. We may half to use an aircraft carrier for the Jaeger since Angel and Tendo aren't sure if the body can take being airlifted. Use the hatch and make your way up as soon as possible and we'll see you back at base soon."

"Roger that." Raleigh said after a moment before he removed his helmet. Every motion hurt. He could feel the bruises forming throughout his body already and didn't like the idea of a long flight back to Hong Kong.

Following Mako out the escape hatch, moving slowly due to his shoulder, Raleigh let out a breath at the destruction around them. Sun light filtered through the dust clouds rising from the destruction to show them the extent of their surroundings. At least ten square blocks had been leveled. Building sized piles of debris and a handful of free standing walls remained. Cars, trucks, and buses were scattered throughout and everything seemed covered in a layer of Kaiju blood. Cākū's body lay among it all seemingly in a neon blue lake. Raleigh didn't even want to image the decontamination efforts and clean up it would require to salvage this relatively small portion of the city. The only bright side was that it could have been much worse.

Mako threaded her fingers through his and they stood together in silence on top of Green Beast gazing on the destruction as the thudding of helicopter blades approached.

A few minutes later a pair of harnesses descended along with a rescue specialist to make sure they were safely strapped in. By the time Raleigh was pulled into the body of the helicopter alongside his co-pilot he could feel exhaustion washing over him.

Raleigh half listened to Mako as she exchanged words with the rescue specialist and the pilots. They were being taken to an airstrip and would be flown in a C-130 back to the Hong Kong Shatterdome. Green Beast would eventually follow her pilots though no one seemed sure exactly how the Jaeger would return home.

**…...**

A few hours later, Raleigh was jittery as the few crew members still up pried him from the sweaty and banged up drivesuit. He managed to hold himself together long enough to reach mission control with Mako, despite their overwhelming desire to just collapse. Both Rangers were proud to see all four teams waiting. They had obeyed him and Mako to the letter, waiting from deployment to return despite the longer than expected hours.

He kept it simple. "Dismissed." The eight Rangers left immediately, all tired from the long hours of observing.

"They're getting better. " Hansen said with a tired but appreciative look as soon as the doors closed. The Marshall, Tendo, and Nikki were the only other people left in mission control. Without a Jaeger to return to its bay, the crews were dismissed immediately after the battle.

"How bad is it?" Raleigh collapsed into the nearest chair, as Mako copied him a moment later.

"Bad." Tendo kept it simple as he leaned back in his seat and loosened his tie and collar.

Nikki and the Marshall were both leaning against the nearest wall in their leather jackets, arms crossed. Herc was in his Striker Eureka jacket and Nikki wore hers with the array of Jaeger patches. The similarities between the two were hilarious for some reason and the exhausted part of Raleigh that had no concept of boundaries started to laugh. It had been a long day and his shoulder was killing him. He rested his elbows on the control system in front of him and rested his head on his hands.

Herc raised a single eyebrow as Nikki and Tendo both rolled their eyes.

Mako put a hand on her partner's shoulder, steadying him while trying to keep her own exhaustion and rolling emotions under control. They were both feeling the delayed effects of the drift hangover coming on. "What are our options?"

"We're going to have to ship Beast back on a military carrier. The damage to the chest plating and wiring is extensive enough that we can't risk and extended lift of the Jaeger. The entire thing could split. Add all the damage to the left hemisphere system and various other wounds, Green Beast is completely out of commission. I honestly think I can have Gipsy Danger complete before the repairs on Green Beast would be done." Nikki informed the group quickly.

"I'm not going to complain." Raleigh muttered from his hands before relaxing slightly as Mako began rubbing his arm.

"That sounds good. We would feel better back in Gipsy." His co-pilot told the trio.

Raleigh looked up in time to see the Marshall nod. "Then that's the plan. Mori, Becket. Go to bed. I don't want to see either of you until you're completely coherent again. We don't have a functioning Jaeger at the moment so you can sleep through an alarm. We're back to weapon defenses for the time being."

Raleigh stood when Mako pulled on his arm and the pair made their way slowly to his room. There wasn't a conscious decision not to split up; they were both acting on their instinct of wanting the security of their partner after such a rough fight.

**…...**

**Bolded text is very happy people are giving into its demands and requests more. NOW! OBEY!**

**Completely unnecessary Author's notes with my personal opinion no one will actually read:**

**To answer recent review about why plasma cannons on a coastal wall wouldn't work as a defense:**

**I think it's still a question of mobility in defense and for this particular idea, expense. In almost every fight in the movie a single blast from a plasma cannon is not enough to take down a Kaiju. If the cannon was stationary, it would get in a single hit, be destroyed, and the now wounded and angry Kaiju would be free to terrorize. If you consider how expensive the Jaegers and their weapons are, plasma cannons must expensive in their own right. On a coastal wall they would have be stationed at least every mile, if not closer, which means thousand of cannons plus thousands of their power sources. I think it would get real expensive real fast especially every time they failed. Also, Jaegers are still more awesome and therefore a better solution. Just my personal thoughts on the matter, feel free to ignore or disregard!**

**And another review mentioned satellite lasers:**

**I honestly don't think a laser no matter how badass could take out a giant killer monster. Just saying.**


	15. Chapter 15

**I probably should have mentioned this a few chapters back but any and all translations and foreign language usage is done with Google Translate. I don't really have any other options since I don't speak Japanese, Korean, Hindu, or any of the other languages coming into play soon. So I apologize for any mistakes and blame Google.**

**This chapter is a slower one with lots of OC development especially when compared to the last one. I did warn you all and it is necessary to the story. It also has a lot of necessary establishing elements for the next section of the story. The Jaeger Program is now back up and running, though not without a multitude of issues, and the next step is expansion. **

**Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out! It needed a lot of editing and I kept fighting myself on several aspects, slowing the process down. I had to get something finalized or the story would stall.**

**Thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, followed, etc! **

**…...**

* * *

Raleigh was glad for once to be stuck in the isolated Shatterdome. He knew without having to watch the news or from read the security reports that now that the world outside the Pacific had been attack, rioting had resumed. He had never been so glad not to be the Marshall; he knew Herc would be stuck in meetings for days at this point.

It was a little over a day after the attack when things got truly vicious. It was enough time for anyone regardless of time zone or remote location to have heard of the attack on Mumbai. Everyone near a coastline from the Atlantic, to the Mediterranean, to the Indian Ocean were panicking and demanding answers. Mass exoduses had begun from coastal cities around the world as the shock of the attack faded and turned to alarm.

The public believed there was a single functioning Jaeger and despite their support for the Corps, they knew no single Jaeger could protect everyone when rifts were opening around the world. They were unaware that Green Beast had been completely disabled. Raleigh wondered how much worse it could get if that detail slipped out of the Shatterdome.

Public anger was currently directed solely at the governments who disbanded the Jaeger Corps originally and as a result, left the world in such a precarious position. Government buildings had been attacked and looted in more than a dozen countries and two of the U.N officials who had initiated the Pacific Wall program were missing, their homes having been targeted by mobs.

The Shatterdome guards were on high alert, having already intercepted two separate incursions by civilians into the land around the dome. Neither had been antagonistic, one group wanted answers, the other wanted security, believing the Shatterdome to be the only safe place left in the world. The combination of high emotions and multiple sabotage attempts had everyone nervous and overly cautious.

Raleigh tried to put all that from his mind as he and Mako headed to their own meeting with Herc. The Ranger knew he was doing everything possible to help the world in the way he knew best. He was protecting civilians with every ounce of his ability and passing on his knowledge to a new class of Rangers.

Raleigh and Mako had already planned out the entire afternoon with the trainees, hoping to have them review the fight with Cākū with the team and get their thoughts as observers rather than combatants before moving on to more physical combat and eventually team building.

Tendo was already in the conference room and Nikki and Herc came in together a few minutes later, arguing. "It's a liability and extremely dangerous for the crews." The Marshall's body was filled with conflicting elements of frustration and exhaustion as he spoke while Nikki looked uncharacteristically grim as she argued the point that "There are no other options." The pair broke off upon seeing the others waiting and took their seats in silence.

"So what's the word on Beast?" Raleigh asked Tendo as an awkward silence fell. Almost twenty hours of sleep and an entire pot of coffee at breakfast ensured that he and Mako were both back to normal and possibly the most alert people in the conference room.

"She should be here in about four hours." The LOCCENT Officer told him as he pulled up a map display, a thin red line tracking the progression of Green Beast's transport from Mumbai back to Hong Kong before continuing. "We lost two portions of chest plating during the short lift from combat sight to the carrier and a set of electrical surges went through the conn-pod due to damaged wiring. Be glad we didn't try to bring you back in her."

"And Gipsy?" Mako asked, turning the group's attention to Nikki.

"We need another day or so. The reactor's fully installed and we're finishing up the cauterizing generator for the swords, which will in fact work after going through three different designs." Nikki broke off with a pointed look at Mako who nodded. "Arigatō"

Raleigh added his own nod of gratitude; he knew how much the swords meant to his co-pilot, being an element that combined her biological family with her Jaeger family. Knowing that Nikki and Tendo had perfected a design that worked despite their original doubts and Kaiju Blue fears, gave Raleigh a slight sense of hope. The Jaeger Corps wasn't stalled or stuck despite its setbacks. It was continuing to evolve to meet the needs of the war and the world.

Nikki continued, "Anyway, we have to finish the armor plating now that the reactor's in and test drop the conn-pod to double check the locking mechanisms once we finish water proofing it. Then the first Mark VI is officially combat ready."

"Good." Herc took control of the meeting once Nikki finished."We're still getting details in from Mumbai but despite the lack of bunkers and shelters, evacuation was incredibly successful. The majority of the casualties are those who stayed in the buildings in and close to the combat zone. The extra time created due to the breach opening farther away from the city saved a lot of lives. Reports of people sickening due to Kaiju blue are already coming in but the local government has tightened the lockdown on the zone and no one else can get in. The few who initially did were opportunistic looters who went straight in before we even airlifted you two out. All things considered, PPDC believes the death toll will be below two thousand."

Raleigh was shocked but in a relieved way. For a city with millions of people living in it, such a low death toll following a direct Kaiju attack was almost unheard of.

The Marshall focused his attention specifically on the Rangers. "Green Beast will go in for repairs as soon as Gipsy is done. Parts for 381 should start rolling in tomorrow. I want the twins in another Green Beast sim as soon as possible. They need to be completely combat ready in a few days so anything they need to change or perfect needs to be done now. If you need to back off the others to focus on them, do it. Whatever it takes. We need two Jaegers field ready." Mako nodded and made a note in her tablet. With these new orders, the two Rangers would have to change their original training plans for the next few days.

Raleigh hesitated then copied her, jotting down what the twins needed to focus on before he interrupted Herc. The curiosity and confusion that had been with him since the Mumbai attack needed to be voiced. "Quick question. What happened to my arm yesterday? I would prefer that never happen again. I've got a bad track record when it comes to my arms and I was hoping to break that streak."

"It isn't going to happen again. You had no responsibility for what happened." Nikki's voice was cold as she immediately answered.

"What…"

"I fucked up." She interrupted Raleigh's question then hesitated with a glance at Tendo before she leaned forward, focusing on the Rangers. Her good hand was tight around her dog tags and she seemed to purposely avoid looking at Herc of Tendo as she resumed speaking

"You remember when Tendo and I were arguing about the support struts in Beast's arm before the Jaeger was complete? We never did replace the weaker ones because it would have cost too much time. Almost three more days without a functioning Jaeger. Once Green Beast was combat ready, we couldn't go back in without taking apart the entire arm which would ground the Jaeger again. Not knowing when to ever expect the next attack, we just hoped the remote odds would be in our favor and the exact type of hit necessary to expose the flaw in the metal would never happen." Nikki let out a breath. "I've got crappy luck and when Cākū attacked yesterday and impacted the arm, it was at the perfect angle. The support snapped and slid into the gear system in the elbow shattering two of the articulation points. The odds were more than one in a thousand but it still happened."

Raleigh could tell from the look on the tech's face that she completely blamed herself and had expected the worst when the support snapped in the middle of the Kaiju assault. Before he could say anything though, Tendo spoke.

"I went with the odds too. I ran a dozen simulations to test every possibility before ever agreeing that construction could move on to finish Green Beast. I put having a functioning Jaeger above having a perfect Jaeger. We both fucked up and you two and the entire city almost paid the price for that."

Raleigh glanced at Mako, unsure of what to say. The two techs were both at fault but it was over and done with. The pilots were almost completely unscathed while the Kaiju was dead. If they had waited to fix the supports, Green Beast would not have been able to deploy for the attack on Seoul. They had been extremely lucky in every attack before now; Mumbai had been the most realistic, the most typical, in terms of damage to the Jaeger and combat zone regardless of the mistakes made.

Mako saw her partner's indecision and spoke for them both. "Is it possible for it to ever happen again?"

"No." Nikki was quick to answer. "It was only because we reused parts from former Jaegers and Oblivion Bay due to the time crunch. Beast's new arm has to be constructed from scratch and every part in every future Jaeger beginning with Gipsy Danger will be brand new."

"Then it is done. Every aspect of our lives as Rangers is part of a game of chance. You both went with slim odds because it was the better option to ensure the safety of civilians since it made Green Beast combat ready sooner. No one can blame you for making that choice. If we were in your place we would have done the same. As long as it can never happen again, we can move past it."

Tendo nodded and relaxed though Nikki remained grim and silent as Herc redirected the meeting once more. They were dismissed after the Marshall passed on further construction and repair orders to the two techs and training orders to the two Rangers. They had to start deciding which team would be placed in a Jaeger after the twins.

**…...**

"How much should we deviate from the today's original training plans considering Herc's orders?" Raleigh casually asked Mako as they walked through the halls. She went much more by the letter for orders while Raleigh went by the spirit of the orders rather than the technicalities.

Mako glanced sideways at her partner; her face told him that she knew exactly what he was trying to pull.

The original plan had been getting the team better oriented as a single unit which was less combat based and required a lot more talking. It definitely wasn't what Herc had in mind when he ordered the Rangers to polish the twins' abilities further but Raleigh still believed it was necessary and in the spirit of the orders. Putting the twins in a Jaeger without their teammates understanding why they had specifically been chosen could cause a huge amount of ill will and resentment down the line. Some would argue they were better prepared than the twins due to any number of factors; age, training, world knowledge. After the debacle with Chuck and Raleigh openly attacking each other in the halls, the Shatterdome couldn't afford anything less to have anything less than a cohesive unit from its Jaeger pilots. It would weaken the moral within the dome and outside its walls. No one would believe that the teams could work together in Jaegers in combat if they didn't at least tolerate each other now. Their hadn't been anything in particular to worry Raleigh, but now that he was responsible for their training and performance, he wanted as close to guarantees as possible.

"I believe we have a measure of leyway." Mako replied after considering the question. "It will be a few days before Green Beast is once again combat ready and the twins only need to strengthen their abilities. They already have the extensive combat training necessary. We should be fine following the original plans." Mako's lips twitched in amusement at Raleigh's smile.

He wasn't fooled though. He knew she was just as curious about their trainees as he was. They knew more than the others because of their security clearance and access to personnel files, but there was only so much you could learn from paper forms. They needed to know the fledgling Rangers behind that and what made them tick. You could learn a lot about a person based on what they would or would not say about their past in public. The knowledge would give Mako and Raleigh valuable insight into the trainees that couldn't be easily discovered any other way short of drifting with each one.

**…...**

Mako and Raleigh worked with the pairs for a little over an hour after reviewing the Mumbai attack. All four teams were currently sparring on separate mats simultaneously with the two senior Rangers roaming through it all, observing and modifying techniques. They paid added attention to the twins, trying to ascertain what specifically they needed to push for the next few days.

Raleigh called time and the teams broke apart, all four going from mid attack to relaxed in a heartbeat. It was rather surreal to see Finn freeze with his foot a few inches away from where it had been about to hit Ariel in the face or to see Arlington simply release Alice from an arm bar. Mako had just finished securing the gym, physically locking anyone else out to give them complete privacy. Herc and Tendo both knew where they were in case of a non-Kaiju related emergency.

"Good news." Raleigh told the teams as they converged on the main mat and settled into various positions on the floor and steps around him. "You are all getting good at attacking each other. Mako and I thought it would be good to spend some time as a group outside of our basic identity as Rangers. Only the ten of us in this room know or will know for the foreseeable future what it is like to be a Jaeger pilot and what that involves."

"Twelve." Mako interrupted. "Marshall Hansen and Officer Reese."

Raleigh tried not to roll his eyes at the technicality as the trainees laughed quietly. "Fine. Twelve total in the Shatterdome, we're the only ten who will see active combat in the future. And it's a different type of combat than before. Smarter Kaijus, different regions, different Jaegers." Raleigh reorganized his thoughts and returned to his original point. "When in combat we need to be able to recognize the voices coming from another Jaeger as our comrades, as individuals. It makes the fight harder because you know who you lose if something happens, but that is nothing compared to what you gain in the sense of trust and the ability to work as a unit. We're going to spend the next hour talking." There were noises of disbelief and annoyance as Raleigh finished. He knew it seemed cheesy and unnecessary, but having fought in the Corps when it was at its height, he knew the difference connections could make. When he and Yancy were stationed in Anchorage, the Icebox had a sense of cohesion the Hong Kong Shatterdome still lacked.

Mako held up a hand, silencing the group immediately. Raleigh was jealous of her ability to make every movement commanding. It was definitely a useful skill. "Alice, tell me something about Petro Belenko." Mako's demeanor was serene but she inflected the words, making it a weighted question.

Alice Flint froze like a deer trapped in headlights. "He's Russian?" Her tone told the room that it was an empty guess.

"Ukrainian." The large man corrected with a well meaning grin. He seemed to take everything in stride.

"You know your partner but you don't know anyone else in this room." Raleigh reminded them all. "Either make this easy and learn or suck it up and learn. Regardless, we're doing it." He got commanding at the end and after a few more seconds of annoyance, everyone gave up their arguments.

"Why don't you start." Mako told Raleigh after a minute of silence, her eyes laughing at him. Her co-pilot froze, he had meant for it to only include the trainees, but now that he was on the spot, it was impossible to say no.

Raleigh glared at her for a moment, silently promising revenge before turning back to the trainees. "I was born and raised in Anchorage with my brother. We enlisted in the Jaeger Corps instead of continuing school after we lost our mother to cancer. I left the Corps after the Knifehead attack and spent a few years in construction before coming back when Pentecost offered me the chance." Raleigh kept it simple, not wanting to go into the harder to talk about memories.

"I was born in Tanegashima and was an only child. My parents and I were in Tokyo when Onibaba attacked and I was orphaned. Marshall Pentecost took me in and raised me afterwards and I have been with the Corps in a variety of capacities ever since." Mako told the group without prompting. It was easier for her and Raleigh to talk about themselves in a broad sense. Almost everything was common knowledge due to their celebrity status after the original breach closure. They just got the idea going for everyone else.

Mako looked expectantly at the assembled group, almost daring one of them to prove themselves and speak first.

It was Luke Beryl who took the challenge. The blonde was open about his life. "I was raised on a family ranch in Knox City, Texas. Its a few hours outside of Fort Worth. Normal childhood, I spent most of it outdoors, refusing to come inside when I was told to. My parents had three kids several years after me, all girls. I joined the Corps because I want to do everything I can to protect my sisters and ensure that they have a safer world to grow up in." His southern accent deepened when he spoke of his family, his genuine connection to them despite the distance was obvious to everyone around him.

"That's a lot of sisters." Arlington said quietly, making a face. His partner elbowed him and he looked up guiltily. He shrugged when he noticed that all eyes in the room were watching him. 'I've just got one adoptive sister who's a lot younger than me and she's a handful."

"Adoptive?" Alice probed; apparently the pair hadn't shared everything yet.

Arlington nodded. The oldest of the trainees hesitated before continuing. "My biological parents were killed in a car wreck when I was only a year old. Paramedics have no clue how I survived other than sheer luck. I was adopted by a hardcore military family. Every member for the last three generations served in the U.S. military. The adoptive sis is currently in the Georgia National Guard and the adoptive parents in Germany. Dad's stationed there with the Army and Mom's retired Air Force. When I was old enough I joined the Marines then ended up here."

"So is Arlington your first name or last name? I'm a little confused on the matter." Kingsley asked. A few of the others nodded in agreement.

Arlington smiled slightly, scarring on his right cheek crinkled with the action. "First technically. There wasn't any record of my real name after the crash which was near Arlington National Cemetery in Washington D.C. Apparently the license my biological father was driving with was a fake and there was no other way to identify my parents. Arlington is what was put on the Child Services forms since it sounded better than Baby John Doe. It stuck ever since then especially with the military family." He glanced at his partner as he finished speaking and Alice took over with a shrug.

"My story is boring. Middle class family, regular life in the suburbs in Arizona. I wanted something different so I travelled for a few years as a photographer and eventually ended up in Hong Kong. I met a few bay crew members at a bar a few months ago and got a job on the administrative team in the dome. When they announced that they were testing anyone willing for drift ability, I just thought it would be something new. I didn't know I would end up here getting beaten up every day but it's not too bad."

"My story is similar." Petro added with a smile. His heavy accent made it harder to understand him but the patience with which he spoke made it easier. "I was born in Ukraine and got a job working in the Vladivostok Shatterdome when my family had too many children to feed. I came to Hong Kong with Cherno Alpha because it was all I know how to do." He shrugged and his smile widened. "Till now. I was dared to take the Drift testing and was told I was good so I thought why not?"

"How many siblings?" Alice asked curiously.

"Eight. I am the third oldest. My family has always been large." Petro's grin widened as he saw the various reactions throughout the room.

Raleigh found it curious how many of the new Rangers were at least partially motivated by siblings. It was an interesting coincidence but probably nothing more than just chance.

Ariel sighed loudly enough for eyes to turn towards her. She flipped her long pony tail over a shoulder and waved a hand. "Sorry. I didn't mean to be rude. I just don't have any of that. I was born in Mexico on the Baja peninsula and had a pretty awful childhood. I did some stupid stuff and ended up in China. I cleaned my act up and ended up here. Simple as that."

Everyone turned to look at Raleigh as if silently asking if she could get away with no details. Raleigh shrugged and let Mako answer for them. "It's your right not to share if you don't want to. We've all done stupid things, some of which we're ashamed of. I don't think anyone will think badly of you for your past as long as it stays there in the past. This is just meant for us to know each other better. It's not an interrogation."

Garza seemed to seriously consider the offer but shook her head after a moment. "I'd rather not. I'm a different person now. Maybe some other time."

Raleigh was glad to see that Ariel's partner was currently looking at her with worry rather than any kind of judgment in his eyes. It told him their connection might not be damaged or weakened due to whatever she wanted to keep private. "Just keep in mind that Finn at the very least will be in your head, seeing your actual memories soon. If you can't handle that, you're in the wrong line of work." He reminded her, she could have privacy from everyone but the person in her head.

Ariel nodded, looking at her hands. "I know. I really do. I just need a little time to think about it."

Raleigh held up his hands. "I get that. I needed five years worth of 'time'" Soft, half surprised laughter followed his statement, easing the tension that had been building for the last few minutes.

"I'm with Alice." Kingsley took over, taking attention away from her partner who visibly relaxed once all eyes were off her.

It was a different view of the energetic woman who had been in all training sessions before now. Raleigh knew everything she just said would have to be taken into consideration by him and Mako. It didn't mean she was a bad candidate now, just one that needed a little more work.

"I was born and raised in New Jersey." Kingsley continued, speaking with his hands and with his voice, he had too much energy for simple words. "I was the obnoxious athlete in high school, played football, basketball, and ran cross country. Everything I did was about the adrenaline rush from competition and winning. I was a member of the U.S Olympic team for track when that was still going and ended up in the Academy program right before it shut down after getting bored."

Everyone looked expectantly at the twins who had been leaning against a wall the entire time, listening. They glanced at each other and had a silent conversation of slight head motions and barely there expressions before Mia spoke. "We've kinda always been here. Not here in Hong Kong but in various Shatterdomes. Our mother died when we were young and our dad worked on various Jaegers in the repair crews so we've been around the Corps our entire lives. We lost him to radiation poisoning a few years ago and our older sister took over our guardianship after she was forced out of the Academy and into the bays. We pretty much have no memories from before the domes. It's kinda weird but works for us. Stick with what you know right?"

Raleigh thought it was amazing how Mia managed to tell almost strangers about dead parents and missing childhoods with a grin on her face though a little strange. It didn't help that Xander didn't look even a little fazed either. Raleigh did wonder about her wording though. He had thought Tendo said Nikki left the Academy and Mia described it differently. It was probably nothing; the teen was more than a little prone to exaggeration.

Raleigh stood now that every Ranger had had their turn. "Before you go, as homework, think about your similarities with your co-pilot. Almost every pair of Jaeger pilots has a tradition or habit before combat or in the Drift. Some create it consciously, for others it's just a tiny detail at the beginning of each Drift. Focus on what you are capable of together that you lack as an individual. It doesn't have to be something you can even easily describe but find that common ground; the habit will give you a stronger link as you begin sim training together and eventually in live combat. Head to dinner and keep getting to know one another better. We'll see you in training tomorrow. Twins stay behind." Raleigh watched the group leave, they were focused on each other. He didn't think any of them had really paid attention to what he just said. The Ranger mentally shrugged. They would either find the tangible element of their connection or they wouldn't. Some of the best pilots never did, it was just an idea he thought might help some.

As the others filtered out, the twins waited patiently. "Do you two have the time and energy for a full simulation tonight for Green Beast?" Raleigh asked once they were alone with Mako. The pair exchanged a glance then nodded. Raleigh returned the motion. "Good. Get food and be in mission control at eight."

The veteran Ranger dropped down next to his co-pilot on the stairs once they had complete privacy. "Your thoughts?"

"We need to watch Ariel Garza and Finn Kingsley carefully. It doesn't matter what she will tell us as long as the pairing is fine but we need a guarantee of that before they enter a full drift. I would put them last for a Jaeger at the moment unless something changes."

Raleigh made a face but agreed. They had great combat potential, but the new details told him that Garza would be prone to chasing the rabbit and Kingsley would follow her.

"There are a lot of similarities in the group." Mako added after several minutes of companionable silence.

"Definitely. Dead parents, multiple siblings, over protectiveness, boredom, curiosity" Raleigh listed off the ones he had noticed before truly considering them. "We're not exactly lacking in any of those areas either. I think there are a few classic personality traits among Jaeger pilots."

"No we're not. And there is no reason to judge. They are strong motivating factors for anyone." Mako agreed, sadness touching the corners of her eyes as she stared at the empty gym. The pair returned to their silence, thinking of their memories and each other's. No matter which head the memories had originated in, they pushed the pair to do better, be better every second of every day.

**…...**

**REVIEW! Bolded text is too tired from dealing with this chapter to make a sufficiently threatening demand.**

**Authors Note:**

**I apparently have a few smartass readers (not saying that's a bad thing, I'm one myself.) When I said lasers wouldn't do any good against Kaiju, I didn't mean lasers from the Enterprise or the freaking Death Star! I'm pretty sure if it can blow up a planet it can blow up a giant monster ON a planet. I meant lasers along the lines of what is possible today and in the near future considering other advanced technology in the Pacific Rim world. Interplanetary vessels will not be showing up in this story.**

**I also apparently have some very intelligent readers who have some of the same ideas as me for killing Kaiju. Some of the recent suggestions/arguments I have gotten were already included in my plans and will come into play in the future with the Mark VI Jaegers and other defensive options. However, those ideas do not include lasers!**


	16. Chapter 16

**So I obviously haven't updated in a while. I am so sorry but I'm back at school and apparently that has to come first. My updates will be less frequent but they will definitely continue. Nothing will take me away from this story. On the slight bright side, this chapter is longer than ever?**

**This chapter was also delayed due to its nature; I went through what seems like a dozen drafts before finding the right way to continue the story. The chapter does bounce around a little but as I move away from the world established in the movie, the world changes a little and needs expansion.**

**Anyway, sorry for the delay and thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, and favorite despite it. Keep it up! (It helps me get the next chapter out faster.)**

**…...**

Raleigh watched the room spin around him. Tech displays and the massive windows that overlooked the bays blurred in a constant motion. He started to slow so he kicked out, his boot hitting a nearby desk and sending him into a faster spin.

"Really." Mako's flat voice filtered through the haze of movement. Hands grabbed the back of the chair, stopping it. Raleigh's body didn't get the message and continued to try to spin, ending up in a pile of limbs on the floor of mission control.

As soon as the floor seemed to stop spinning, he grinned at his co-pilot who raised a single imperious eyebrow, her lips twitching at the corners. Raleigh felt the overwhelming urge to make her façade crack. "What? I've run out of things to do and Tendo threw a screw driver at me when I distracted him."

Mako glanced at the LOCCENT Officer who was buried up to his elbows in a control panel, loose wires sprouting forth around him. "He's like a puppy. Distracting him with a toy is the only way to get peace and quiet." Tendo told her without turning, sparks flying from the opening as he repaired the interior.

Mako let out as graceful a snort as is possible and rolled her eyes. "Try to be a little more professional once the twins get here. They should be on the way down to run their sim."

Raleigh laughed and took the hand Mako offered, and pulled himself to his feet. "I'll try."

**…..**

Mako and Raleigh watched the twins defend against Onibaba in Manila. The Kaiju and location had been a random selection by the computer as the sim started. The goal of this particular simulation was to gauge their improvisational abilities in combat. If the PPDC was lucky, no Jaeger would go into combat uninformed or ill equipped, but with the risk of double events or higher category Kaijus in the future, nothing was ever certain for Jaeger pilots.

For this sim, the twins were isolated, no mission control to communicate with or fellow Jaegers to rely on. They had to make all decisions and take the consequences that followed.

Before the simulation had been initiated, Tendo informed the four Rangers that the plan for Beast's replacement arm was a single heated sting blade mounted on the forearm. Herc wanted the crews able to focus on 381 once Gipsy Danger was combat ready rather than back tracking and working longer on Green Beast. Raleigh agreed with the decision, silently hoping to never have to deal with a spin blade for the rest of his career.

The veteran Rangers watched as Green Beast caught Onibaba as the Kaiju clawed, Mia blocking the attack and Xander following with a sucker punch that knocked the Kaiju into a building, letting the concrete and metal supports do damage where the Jaeger's insufficient weapons were failing.

Raleigh scanned his notes from the twin's previous sims. They had high scores overall, outside of the range of the many records placed by veteran Rangers, but they got closer every year. The pair achieved victory in almost every simulation for the last few years at whatever cost, something other pilots usually hesitated at in simulations. They were quicker on land than in water and interacted with the combat zone better than other pilots, using it to their advantage.

It was almost fifteen minutes later that the pair defeated Onibaba through a technicality. The Kaiju had managed to land an attack that caused the Green Beast's reactor to surge out of control, frying the Jaeger's systems. Disarmed and trapped with no knowledge of whether or not help was coming, the twins chose to detonate the unstable reactor, taking out the Kaiju and more than a dozen city blocks in every direction. They chose the option that ensured Onibaba could not continue further into a dense civilian population at the cost of their own lives.

Raleigh wasn't sure he would have done the same thing if he had been in that particular combat scenario, but he didn't disagree with the decision either. A few minutes later, the pair emerged from the simulation, their movements noisy in an older generation of drivesuits. Raleigh mentally added getting the pair fitted for their custom drivesuits to his ever growing list of things to handle or attempt to delegate.

The older Ranger could almost see the bags under their eyes darken with each passing second. The twins were exhausted despite telling him earlier that they were fine to run a sim on top of a full day of training. He had trusted their assessment of their abilities and that could have been a mistake. In the gym they had seemed tired but acceptably so giving the standard training regimen, this was beyond what was healthy. They seemed to have gotten their sister's talent for lying about their own well being to ensure the continuing stability of what they viewed as the greater good. The two would have hard days in the future with little or no sleep, but pushing them too hard at the moment did no one any good. It simply made them exhausted before ever physically seeing combat.

"Get out of here." Raleigh found himself grow frustrated, they knew better than to push to the point of exhaustion without a point. They weren't learning from the constant combat and the sims, they were refining their abilities which required finesse not a sheer amount of continued training. Xander nodded mutely while Mia seemed to consider arguing.

"Now." Mako forced the order.

"Don't let me see you again till you've had at least ten hours of sleep. Understood?" Raleigh ground out. The pair nodded and left straight for the drivesuit crew.

Mako watched her partner as the pair departed. She wondered if Raleigh knew how similar he had just sounded to the Marshall a moment ago. It was plain to her and to Tendo, the only other witness to the scene. She guessed not. Raleigh would take on the responsibility of a leader in a heartbeat, but did so unconsciously, never recognizing the symbolism of his choices or the effect they had on the Shatterdome's inhabitants.

As the twins left, Mia had thrown a look at Mako, trying to ask or tell her something. The older Ranger had seen it despite her focus being on her co-pilot and she made a mental note to track down the young woman the next morning. Leaving Tendo to deal with her still overactive co-pilot, Mako left for her room, craving isolation for however long she could get it.

**…...**

"I need you to do something for me." Raleigh looked up at his partner who settled in to the seat across from him. She was rarely so blunt which had him immediately on guard, unsure of what to expect. He knew her as is co-pilot, as a Ranger, and as a fighter. The simple element of friendship that seeped into their bond with every passing day was something else all together: different and slightly unpredictable.

"Which would be?" Raleigh finally asked after a moment of considering his options.

"Get Nikki to take a break with us in mission control the next time we're there. If Tendo or I push, she will get suspicious. We need to see her outside of the bays but it is unlike either of us to push her or try to manipulate her. You are still a largely unknown quantity and capable of maneuvering her."

Raleigh blinked, unconsciously stabbing at the scrambled eggs resting on his tray as he tried to find a reason why Mako would push for Nikki to come. She rarely did after the first week or so and Mako's insistence seemed uncharacteristic of his co-pilot. He caved after failing to discover a possible explanation and simply asked. "Why?"

"Mia is concerned." Mako told him simply as she split an orange into sections. The mess hall had just gotten in a rare shipment of fresh fruit and everyone was taking advantage of it while it lasted.

"Why?" Raleigh repeated.

"I'll explain when we meet Tendo. Let me eat in peace for once."

Raleigh snorted but dropped the issue for the moment with a shrug and returned to his own breakfast.

Neither got very far, as their phones went off simultaneously. Raleigh's a jarring clip of AC/DC compared to Mako's simple chime. Each device held an identical message, ordering them to report to the Marshall's office immediately. Not explanation was given.

After a rushed walk through the crowded dome, Mako rapped on Marshall Hansen's door and repeated the action, louder after several seconds of no response.

Tendo's grumpy face appeared and he gestured quickly for the pair to come in. He closed the door so quickly behind them, he almost clipped Raleigh's heel.

"Marshall?" Mako's confusion at the tense environment showed as Raleigh scanned the room; Tendo and Herc were its only occupants. Both men were disheveled and tense. The small office struggled to contain the overflow of nervous energy.

"What happened?" Raleigh added when the Marshall didn't speak.

"A virus was installed into the main computer system of the Shatterdome last night right around midnight. Mission Control was only slightly compromised because I had everything isolated and shut down from when I was working on it earlier so it could have been much worse. It scanned almost everything from K-science and the main database. Everything we've been working on is out there…" Tendo gestured wildly window and the world beyond. "We have no control over who has it or where it goes now."

"Weren't the tablets meant to keep everything isolated?" Raleigh thought the internal security systems were better than that.

"Yes but to ensure there was a failsafe of all the work, they were all manually backed up to the main server and protected. It simply wasn't enough! We didn't even give Newt access to the Jaeger plans for security reasons! The factories only have numbers and segment plans to work off of!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Raleigh saw Mako blink twice in rapid succession as she absorbed Tendo's words. He had learned after a particularly disastrous poker night before it had been interrupted by the Kaiju alarm a few weeks ago, that blinks were her tell. Raleigh turned away from the frantic LOCCENT Officer and cocked his head at his partner.

"They don't have the final plans." Mako announced, stilling Tendo and bringing Herc's gaze up from where it had been focused on his black desk top screen for the first time since the Rangers had entered the room.

"Nikki doesn't work on the tablets like we do. The initial design is done on there but she works all the changes and details on paper. Remember, you were mocking her for wasting resources a few weeks ago? Everything she changes in development is done on paper till it's finalized and coded to be sent to the factories. Who ever go the information has a great deal of our scientific work on Kaiju, the breach, and basic mission control systems, but not on the Mark VI's. The heavily factory segments can't be decoded without sending a signal back to the Shatterdome because of the new protocol system you installed. Everything else is secure in pen and paper." Mako's calm tone reinstated a sense of reason in the two men as she reminded them of what they would have immediately remembered, had they not been overworked.

Tendo sunk into one of the arm chairs and Mako settled on the arm of another. Out of nowhere, Herc picked up one of Max's chew toys from the floor and threw it at Tendo who simply looked at it as it hit his chest and bounced off into his lap. "That's for almost giving me a heart attack." The Marshall muttered crossly, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Are we sure?" He directed the question at Mako.

Raleigh watched his partner shrug delicately before he stated the obvious. "Why don't we just ask her? Shouldn't she be here for the panicked meeting that interrupted breakfast?"

The Marshall sighed. "She's only been asleep for three hours. We were meeting for several hours after she oversaw the test drop for Gipsy last night. I had to bribe her with Max to get her to finally crash."

"We need to figure this out now before it gets further out of control." Mako reminded Herc who nodded and tapped a quick message into his phone.

Mako and Tendo carried on a conversation regarding system security that went completely over Raleigh's head as they waited. Herc had been absorbed by a stack of forms, leaving Raleigh to stare out the window at the city. After he got bored with the city skyline, he turned to Herc's desk. Scanning the piles of paperwork, a thick stack with green letters stared up from a page at him. Picking it up, the Ranger was met with scientific gibberish printed in bright green ink.

"Newton claims his printer and Hermann's both ran out of black ink. That's what I got when I told him it would take two days to get more." Herc said without looking up from his paper work. Raleigh shrugged and put the pile back before returning to the window. The Hong Kong sky line had less high maintenance and eccentric scientists to deal with.

Three heavy thumps echoed through the room, followed by a bark a few minutes later. Mako reached over and opened the door while remaining in her precarious seat. Max came bounding through, shimmying under Hansen's desk to demand attention.

"I'm getting real mixed signals Herc." Nikki announced from the doorway. Clad in a tank top and flannel pajama pants shoved into the top of steel toed boots, she had apparently just rolled out of bed to obey the Marshall's summons. "And your dog still snores. What's gone wrong now?"

Tendo and Mako outlined the incident for the bay tech who confirmed that everything was secure in hard copies that were currently in a locked box under her bed. She hadn't updated the Shatterdome internal systems beyond the initial designs. The plans for future Jaegers were markedly different from what the virus had been able to access. The entire room breathed a easier at the confirmation.

"Who is doing all this? Do we have any concrete leads?" Raleigh asked after the entire situation had been settled. Every sabotage attempt and attack on the Shatterdome came from a different direction. There was no way for it to be a single perpetrator but there seemed to be no overarching message or motivation. "We can't stop them if we don't figure this out."

"No clue who is doing it but the goals seems to be screwing with us. Through enough minor stuff at us to slow us down without showing us where it's coming from." Nikki said from where she had taken a seat on the floor, eyes closed with Max overflowing from her lap.

"We need to isolate the issue. Nikki where are the four workers from the original attempts in the bay?" Herc resumed his position as the Marshall.

"I had two removed from the dome. The third is in the PPDC vehicle garage and the fourth is still in the bays doing decontamination full time. It was the best maneuvering I could do without crew members noticing the changes."

"So we start on the two still in the dome. Choi, I need you to come up with some way to track their movements and pinpoint their locations for all the following 'accidents'. After that, get whatever information from the recent attempts you can. The virus had to have a source. Rangers, brief your team on the situation. If anyone approaches them asking about the virus or anything from the computer system, they know nothing and they come straight to you." Mako and Raleigh nodded in unison and stood. They were getting close to being late to meet the trainees.

"We're holding our ground against the Kaiju for the first time in years by the skin of our teeth. We cannot afford to lose it." The Marshall reminded the group.

Nikki left with the Rangers, the main corridor lead both to the bays and the Kwoon. As Mako's earlier request came back to him, Raleigh slowed his stride to walk next to the bay leader. He knew Mako would only ask for a reason so who was he to not do what his partner asked?

"You should come by mission control after dinner. Tendo got another case of Coke and some truly questionable but still edible Twinkies." Raleigh could tell Mako was listening from where she walked a few paces in front of them.

"I would if I could. We're so close to finishing Gipsy, I can't afford to think about anything else right now."

Raleigh was distracted from his original goal by her statement. Mako glanced back at the pair; her pace slowed until she was walking on Nikki's other side. Neither Ranger had been told the Jaeger was nearing completion. "How close?" Mako asked.

"We did the test drop a few hours ago. The locking mechanism jammed slightly on impact so I couldn't write off on her being combat ready. We had to heat the metal to unwarp it and we couldn't unload the conn-pod before metal cooled completely. I sent the teams off for a few hours to sleep during the delay. Since I'm up, I'll rouse the crews and have Tendo get LOCCENT ready. If the next drop goes according to plan, we'll install the final neural link systems and she's all yours. She could be done by tonight."

"Like in a few hours tonight?" Raleigh felt the first murmurs of excitement rising up.

"Possibly. And it's more than a few hours. Closer to twelve." Nikki admitted.

"Would it be possible for you to have Tendo call us before you test the drop again? I would like to be there to watch." Raleigh agreed with is partner as she spoke.

Nikki shrugged. "I'll pass it along. Have fun with the trainees." She split down a side hall, disappearing into the congestion at the bay doors caused by the new policy of having to present and swipe id before every entry.

Raleigh and Mako walked silently for a few minutes, before Raleigh remembered the original point of the conversation. "Why did I do that?"

"Mia thinks her sister has been pulling away from her and Xander. Nikki is many things; distant is not one of them. She has always been close to the twins to the point of smothering. If her demeanor has changed to the twins, it concerns me. She has no one to look out for her other than the twins who need to focus on their training and Marshall Hansen who is too busy. I've known her for long enough to tell if something is wrong if I can get her in one place for long enough without her realizing my intentions which is the difficult part. It could be nothing, it could be personal, or it could be something in the bays. Regardless, I need to know."

"Is this something we need to deal with now?" Both ignored the fact that Raleigh immediately changed something Mako was taking responsibility for into something both of them dealt with.

Mako nodded. "If it is an issue to the Shatterdome or compromises the bay officer's ability to do her job, yes. We must do everything in our power to protect the dome and the program no matter how tiny an issue may seem."

Raleigh wasn't completely convinced but it didn't matter. Mako was doing it and he wouldn't ever let her take on any responsibility alone if he was in a position to help with the burden.

"So what do we do?"

"For now? Nothing. Gipsy Danger is the highest priority. We'll figure out Nikki once we have our Jaeger back."

**…...**

"Stations ready?" Tendo's commanding voice echoed through the speakers in mission control in the head sets of all bay workers.

LOCCENT was less chaotic than Raleigh would have thought. Maybe because it was a test rather than a combat drop. He and Mako watched from the side wall, out of the way of the techs but with a clear view of Gipsy's massive form through the windows. The rest of the Rangers were in the back by the door. When they had discovered the test was happening just after dinner, they had convinced Mako to allow them to watch. Raleigh had to admit it was a good experience for them.

"Last catwalk is pulling away. Passing control over to you Officer Choi." Nikki's voice filtered into the room and Tendo nodded to himself. The bay tech was floors away and unable to see the motion.

"Clear bays, prepare for drop." Tendo announced as his hands flew over the physical controls and through the holographic ones.

Raleigh was almost bouncing with anticipation. Mako seemed calm on the outside but Raleigh knew from how intently she focused on the windows, she was just as nervous as he was.

Lights flashed and words bounced across screens as the conn-pod fell. The silence seemed eerie to Raleigh. Drops were full of screeching and hissing metal, not filtered through glass windows. A hollow thud was the only sound to reach mission control as the conn-pod slid into place. Massive gears spun, and bolts locked, and after several minutes, the movements stilled.

"Choi, my readings look good from down here. Concur?" Nikki's static filled voice broke the silence.

There was a breathless heartbeat before Tendo spoke. "Successful drop and lock, Gipsy needs her touch ups then she's good to go."

Noise filled the room following Tendo's announcement. Tech's issuing statements and readings, Rangers talking, Raleigh let out a laugh in it all. Gipsy Danger was back and better than ever.

After the chaos subsided, Raleigh dismissed the Rangers. The techs filtered out as each station went dark, signifying the completed programs that were involved in the drop and following separation and lift of the conn-pod.

Almost an hour after the success, the veteran Rangers were left alone with Tendo and the Marshall. With all the isolated meetings, Raleigh was beginning to think they needed a secret handshake.

The door opened behind them and Nikki slipped in. A thick denim shirt had replaced the tank top but she was still wearing the flannel pants tucked into her work boots. Raleigh briefly wondered if he should worry about the self preservation instincts of the Reese family. The twins and Nikki were more devoted to the program than almost any one he had known during his early years of service. Though considering the people who stayed with Pentecost and the Jaeger Program to this point, he guessed it was less exceptional than he thought.

"So when do we get Gipsy back?" Raleigh asked Herc after Mako elbowed him slightly. She seemed to enjoy making him ask the overeager questions.

"We're waiting for the next Kaiju attack." The Marshall told him after a moment of considering the pair. "We don't want to risk opening ourselves to the risk of another sabotage attempt during a test. The bay is completely locked down and isolated from Green Beast's crews. The U.N guards are monitoring every level and entrance in pairs of two. No one can get close to her until we fully deploy for combat."

"She's perfect Becket." Nikki spoke up from her spot against the wall. "I've gone over every inch and would put the twins in her in a heartbeat. Your Jaeger is the best the Corps has ever made."

Raleigh nodded after seeing the absolute conviction in the mechanic's eyes. "So what now then?"

"Keep training the recruits, finish Beast up again, and wait. We're in a holding pattern." Herc told him with a bitter shrug. "We wait for the alarm and then we fight. There's nothing else we can do until we find a real solution." The Marshall stood his back cracking audibly with the motion and he left with a nod to the room.

Silence fell for a moment then Tendo moved to a door that hid a maintenance closet. Among the wires cluttering the floor in the tiny room was a precariously balanced stack of worn boxes. The tech grabbed the top two and slid them onto the nearest clear table top. Red cans spilled out from the worn cardboard and Raleigh grabbed it and slid it to Mako. He repeated the motion, sending a Coke down the table to Nikki who grabbed it before it fell off before taking his own. The tech moved back to the table and slid a third, tiny box to Mako who thank him but ignored it in favor of the soda.

"I would kill for a beer right now." Raleigh spoke as cans hissed open. Tendo nodded while Mako attempted a stern frown and failed.

"Drunk Jaeger pilots are the last thing we need at the moment." Mako reminded him.

"Yeah but it still sounds really good." Raleigh reminded her as he grabbed a bag of chips from Tendo's second box. Prepackaged food was getting rarer and rarer these days. Being a Ranger in the ongoing war meant enjoying the little things which in Raleigh's opinion included processed food. Not a lot, he had never had a big sweet tooth, but enough to remind you of what things used to be like. Every little detail helped to keep you grounded. It didn't matter if the particular type of soda was Yancy's favorite rather than his own. It was still a part of his child hood.

The four sat in silence for a while, relaxing in the sense of relief that came with having a functioning Jaeger. To have a threat looming over their heads and being one of the few to know they could have done nothing if the alarm had sounded was stressful for all of them.

"So what is your estimate for Green Beast?" Mako asked Nikki eventually.

The tech shrugged. "Two days but that's a bit optimistic. The new arm is fully constructed but the wiring and lifting will take time. Are the twins going to be ready?" Worry crossed her face as she spoke the last words.

"Yeah. They're still rough in the areas only experience can fix but it will be fine. They'll be deploying with us so things aren't going to get out of hand."

Nikki nodded absently, rubbing a thumb along the blue lines just above the brace on her bad arm.

Raleigh glanced at Mako who nodded and gave him a pointed look before shifting her gaze to Nikki. Raleigh knew she wanted him to do something about the tech. What that something was though, he had no clue. The jaeger pilot briefly considered the merits of telepathy before choosing a random topic. "So what's the deal with the tattoo? Is it a pattern?"

Nikki's hand froze and she looked at him before sliding her attention to Mako and Tendo then back. A wry smile twisted her lips. "Something like that. Tendo didn't tell you my story?"

Raleigh shrugged. "I have poor listening skills. So?"

"It's not a pattern technically. Its scar tissue."

Raleigh ran his eyes over the pattern. "You have a blue scar?"

"The scar isn't blue. I had a tattoo artist ink over the scarring a few months back during a particularly rough night."

Raleigh raised an eyebrow.

Nikki raised one in return before sighing. "It's easier to start at the beginning. What do you know about Kaiju skinmites?"

Raleigh frowned, not seeing how that could be the start to any story. He knew the creatures were a byproduct of the Kaiju, coming through the breach with the monsters though they never lived long after their Kaiju host died.

"After I failed to find a decent co-pilot match after two rounds in the Academy, I went to the Sydney Shatterdome. My dad was working in the maintenance crew there and I took a few months off to try to figure some stuff out and ended up picking up shifts on the Jaeger decontamination crew to get extra cash. Kaiju skinmites are weird little creatures. They end up on Jaegers during direct combat and they die quickly but in certain climates, they can last a few hours. If an attack is close enough to a Shatterdome, they can be a few still alive when the Jaeger returns to base. I was working a shift on Vulcan Specter and got bit." Nikki seemed to hesitate then undid the Velcro straps of the wrist brace, leaving only her fingers immobile and exposing her hand and the full tattoo. When she held up her hand, Raleigh could see two dark puncture scars by her thumb.

The veteran glanced from the tech's scars to his partner. Mako nodded as if to confirm Nikki's story. "It is rare but there are four documented cases of skinmite bites within PPDC. Disections have found a set of mandibles that are hidden and capable of retracting but when exposed, are small enough to puncture limbs. Because of their symbiotic nature with the Kaiju, their saliva is toxic to humans."

"The K-science division in Sydney was always weaker. I was airlifted to Hong Kong for treatment. Two years earlier, a crew member had been bit. The treatment they figured out too late to save him from amputation, saved my arm but there was a ton of nerve and muscle damage on top of the physical scarring."

"That's why you left the Academy program permanently." Raleigh spoke as the several pieces he had heard about Nikki and her background came together.

The bay tech nodded. "There is no way for me to ever pilot the left hemisphere and other side would be tricky. The only person I ever came close to matching with only had left hemisphere experience. Trying to continue as a pilot seemed foolish so I put all my energy into doing what I could for the war where I could. I made myself an expert in Jaeger design and construction."

"So what's the deal long term?" Raleigh asked, the injury was definitely severe but yet it didn't seem to affect her on a regular basis from what he could see.

Nikki glanced at Mako who shrugged. "No one is entirely sure. Two of the others who were bit died of radiation poisoning so the effects of the skinmite toxin was never seen. The third had his forearm amputated to contain it so the circumstances are very different." Nikki tapped the metal band around her bicep before continuing. "This hides a specially designed medical stint that K-science uses to monitor the effects in my arm and deliver their cocktail of antitoxin twice a week."

"That seems like a strange place for a stint." Raleigh had very little concrete medical knowledge but did have a rudimentary knowledge of stints.

"It had to be in the same arm and they couldn't put it in the crook of my elbow or in my wrist or hand because of my job. It's a better option than getting stabbed with a set of big needles every few days. It's definitely not perfect but it keeps everything working. Considering everything else going on, I visit Hermann twice a week for testing and dosage and forget it the rest of the time."

Silence fell. Neither Mako or Tendo seemed inclined to remind Nikki of their presence while Raleigh digested the information. The bay leader had always been reserved around him, focusing only on her job in the bays. This was the longest Raleigh had ever seen her for much less actually talked to her for.

"That doesn't explain all the blue though." Raleigh reminded her after a minute. Nikki let out a laugh at his words.

"That's more recent and a whole other story. Ever since I recovered from the bite and regained the use of the arm, I've been working on the crews in some form, moving up through the ranks as I bounced between the domes. I was never supposed to be in charge of the whole bays. Up until three months ago, right around when Marshal Pentecost was consolidating what remained of the Jaeger Corps here in Hong Kong, I was just the crew leader for Crimson Typhoon and then Striker Eureka. The Bay leader who oversaw all operations was a really nice guy named Lou Wetherby. Former British Commando turned mechanic who lived in the Phillipines until K-Day and join PPDC to turn into a Jaeger expert." Nikki seemed to hesitate and glanced at Mako. The pair had a silent moment of eye contact that Raleigh couldn't decode before Nikki continued speaking.

"I got woken up at 5 am one morning by Pentercost who told me that Crimson Typhoon's third spin blade was jammed but still heating and beginning to warp the metal around the blade. It had to be dealt with immediately or else the wrist joint could snap under the pressure and weakened metal. I panicked despite being the expert on Crimson Typhoon and said Lou needed to deal with it. He was the true expert. I didn't think I could handle it. Pentecost just informed me that the crew had called Lou first and when he didn't respond, they went to his bunk and found him dead. Heart attack in his sleep. There was no one else left with the same level of knowledge and experience working with Jaegers other than Mako and her time with Gipsy Danger. With Lou gone, I was the only person who could come close to filling his role with knowledge of all the Jaegers. I went out a few days later with some of the crew as an impromptu wake for Lou and a mock celebration of the promotion I didn't particularly want. The end result of that particular debacle was ending up wasted in a tattoo parlor thinking it was a good idea to trace all the veins and nerve systems that had been affected by the skinmite toxin in blue."

"Damn." Raleigh hadn't known what had happened to the original bay leader, he had simply assumed Pentecost had reason for putting Nikki in the position like he had had a reason for everything.

The tech shrugged as she put the brace back on her injured hand. "I'm still learning but we all are. The PPDC was started by people out of their depth in a situation where no one really knew what to do. It's our jobs to react. We succeed or we die."

No one could disagree with Nikki's statement or the truth behind it.

"That was a bad night." Tendo's deadpan words cut the silence a moment later followed by Nikki's laugh and Mako's knowing smile. Raleigh knew he was missing something.

"I got a phone call saying seven of my techs were drunk in a tattoo parlor in Hong Kong's black market district at one in the morning. I never want to deal with that again." Tendo explained to Raleigh with a glare at Nikki.

"I make no guarantees but I promise not to take anyone vital with me if there is a next time. I'll see you all later. I need a few more hours of sleep if you want another Jaeger any time soon." Nikki told the room as she stood.

Tendo rolled his eyes but gave her a wave which Mako and Raleigh copied as the door swung shut.

"Do we need to worry?" Tendo directed the question at Mako the second Nikki's footsteps faded. Raleigh's co-pilot hesitated and let out a deep breath.

"I don't know. She's much more focused than I thought from what Mia said, but she's a little off. I can't pinpoint the issue though. What do you think?"

Tendo looked uncertain. "The same. She's off but I can't tell where. It doesn't seem to be an issue though. We've got Gipsy Danger now and Green Beast is on schedule. I don't see any reason to push right now. We have other priorities."

Mako nodded. "We will leave her alone for now." She said as she stood, taking the little box with her before looking at Raleigh. "We should sleep while we can."

Raleigh stood and followed his partner, agreeing whole heartedly. "So what's in the box?" He asked as they neared their hall.

Mako lifted the lid and tilted it for him. Five tiny glass bottles in an assortment of colors sat nestled in the box.

"Nail polish?"

Mako nodded with a smile. "The little things matter."

**…...**

**Bolded Statement wants reviews because college is far less entertaining than the internet and it has been bored and under used.**


	17. Chapter 17

**I'm alive! Well only mostly but that doesn't matter. What matters is that all of you get a chapter! Sorry for the massive delay, college is crazy and time consuming.**

**As always, this hasn't been beta read. Sorry. And I know the editing is a little rough. Please let me know if there is a glaring mistake I missed.**

**Thank you to everyone who favorited, followed, and updated. Everyone one of those kept me focused on the story even when I couldn't write and as always, Please Review!**

**…...**

He was home. It was different metal, different displays, different drivesuits, but beneath it all; it was Gipsy Danger. Raleigh was in his Jaeger with his co-pilot doing what he knew best. He was home.

The alarm had sounded sooner than anyone expected, only a few hours after Gipsy was declared ready for duty. The entire Shatterdome had appeared from their bunks to see the prodigal daughter redeploy again despite the extremely early hour. Raleigh was almost high on the excitement and anticipation generated by the deployment despite his lack of sleep. Gipsy and her pilots were currently being hauled towards Sydney, the closest city to where the most recent breach had opened and release a Kaiju.

"Are you still awake Raleigh?" Mako asked redundantly, knowing he was through their drift connection.

Raleigh looked over at his harnessed partner and laughed as she rolled her eyes at his exuberant expression. Raleigh was practically bouncing in his harness as Gipsy was hauled to her drop zone. "Who needs sleep?" Raleigh stated loudly. "Caffeine was invented for a reason."

"Caffeine wasn't…."

"Shush Mako. We have Kaiju to kill." Raleigh interrupted, his grin widened as Mako's annoyance and amusement filtered into his brain in smooth waves over the drift. He opened a radio channel with his free hand. It was strange to be back in Gipsy's conn-pod after the weeks in Green Beast. Every aspect down to each button and switch seemed to glisten, brand new to the point of seeming sterile. Despite this, Raleigh embraced what was beneath the metal: his Jaeger. Every recent setback seemed distant now that he was back where he belonged. "Got any details for us Tendo?"

"Nothing new. It's staying underwater so the satellites aren't getting any definite intel on its physical aspects. Someone around here classified it as Binatang. It's definitely a Category three though."

"Again?" Raleigh interrupted the tech, surprised that it was once again a category three. It seemed strange for the Kaiju to be the same category breach after breach, especially after years of Category Fours and the single Category Five. Not that Raleigh minded the weaker Kaiju.

"Just kill it and get back here so we can all take a break." Tendo's annoyance at being interrupted came through the speakers clearly as he disrupted Raleigh's thoughts.

Next to him, Mako made an amused sound that from a less dignified and unprofessional person could have been described as a snort.

Raleigh knew she was laughing internally at the strange, almost giddy emotions rolling off him through the rift and those evident in Tendo's voice to those who know him well. Both men had been struggling, Tendo for longer than Raleigh, to deal with the unraveling state of the Corps and the desperation of Pentecost's last stand. For them, being back in a position where Gipsy Danger was deployed against a standard Kaiju threat, was like the last five years had never happened. Raleigh knew the feelings wouldn't last as everything kept changing, but both men were comforted by the illusion for just a few hours.

"What's our game plan?" Raleigh asked after a moment of silence. They still had almost fifteen minutes until the drop.

"I believe keeping the sword in reserve is in our best interest. The Kaiju masters are unaware that Gipsy has been redesigned in some aspects. Keeping the details hidden for as long as possible gives us some assurance should they send the next Kaiju through with capabilities meant to directly counteract Gipsy Danger as they may have done in the Hong Kong Bay attack."

Raleigh nodded slightly, careful to keep the movement slight so that Gipsy didn't shift around in her harness. Flailing Jaegers weren't good for the helicopters that carried them.

No one had been able to confirm if the Kaiju that destroyed Cherno Alpha and Crimson Typhoon were specifically designed and sent through the drift to target those specific remaining Jaegers or if the Kaiju designers had just gotten lucky. Newton and Hermann both swore it was the first though and Raleigh was inclined to agree. There was a difference between luck and tactics in war. His gut and experience both told him the Kaiju masters were more than just lucky.

"We use it if we need it though. I'm not going to use boats as weapons again if I have the option of the sword. We need to keep this clean and quick. The less damage and contamination from each attack the better." He reminded his co-pilot.

"Of course." Mako agreed without hesitation.

The pair went through system checks and drop preparations in silence as they neared Sydney. The Category Three had followed Hermann's predictions and was still heading straight for the Australian city Now that the Corps had Gipsy Danger back, the next step was to truly hold the Miracle Mile.

"Clear for drop Becket Boy." Tendo announced as he confirmed the Kaiju's position.

"You ready ladies?" Raleigh asked Mako and Gipsy rhetorically, expecting an answer from neither as he flicked a switch above his head, shutting off auxiliary systems and channeling everything the reactor had into the combat systems.

Gipsy free fell for a moment before slowing as she hit the waves. Water rushed around the Jaeger's metal form in a muted roar as her feet made contact with the ocean floor and settled. Less than a third of the Jaeger was above the water which would make the fight more difficult, but they needed to reestablish the Mile and they couldn't exactly choose where the Kaiju targeted.

"How are we looking Choi?" Raleigh asked as Mako silently finished the system checks.

"Just under a mile away and closing."

"Copy that. See you soon." Raleigh glanced at Mako just as she looked at him. Their eyes met and a pair of matching, predatory smiles cut through the conn-pod.

Neither spoke as their legs began to move in tandem. The fluid motions of each pilot guided the Jaeger on its projected intercept course as they rushed to meet the incoming assault. While all Jaegers acted as an extension of their pilots, Gipsy and her pilots were unparalleled. For a few brief moments of sand pounding motion, the pair of pilots moved with their Jaeger in a near perfect drift, three physical forms almost impossible to differentiate among.

"Kaiju closing." Mako whispered. The words soft, but vicious words broke the silence. Raleigh and Mako moved together, stopping the head long rush towards the Kaiju in a heartbeat to shift Gipsy Danger back a step, stabilizing the Jaeger in the high water.

Massive waves crashed against Gipsy's chest and reactor as the Kaiju cut through the ocean with a speed that seemed impossible for a creature as large as the Kaiju. Watching it approach, Raleigh and Mako shifted Gipsy sideways at the last possible moment, allowing the Kaiju to hurtle past in its rush. Raleigh grabbed a hind leg from above and wrenched the creature back. Metal screeched as Gipsy fought the Kaiju's forward moment, pulling it backwards and halfway out of the water.

Mako' smashed a rocket powered fist into the creature's chest as it struggled against Gipsy Danger's hold. She pulled back and struck again, fingers first, breaking into the creature's flesh almost to the elbow before pulling out, bringing Kaiju muscle and bone with Gipsy's forearm.

As Mako flung the Kaiju pieces away, bone protrusions along the Kaiju's limbs struck against Gipsy, denting and breaking through her armor plating in several places on Mako's side. Rather than lose their grip on the Kaiju and their control of the combat in close quarters, Raleigh and Mako twisted, building up momentum before throwing the creature further away from the coastline.

As the Kaiju flew backwards, its tail seemed to unfold. What had appeared to be a blunt and short, nonthreatening appendage lengthened and a massive spike swung out to smash into Raleigh's side of Gipsy's head, cutting through the outer layer of armor. Raleigh could smell fresh air leaking into the conn-pod, confirming what the displays around him said. The damage was mostly to the first layer of armor, but the second layer had been breached and the conn-pod was no longer water tight. The veteran Ranger cursed but pushed the concern away to focus on the fight.

As Gipsy's head snapped sideways, and the Jaeger stumbled, the Kaiju spun through the air before crashing down into the ocean a few hundred yards away. Despite the damage to Gipsy, Mako and Raleigh silently agreed to press their advantage and rushed forward. They knew it was in their best interest to finish the fight as quickly as possible

In the brief second's between Binatang hitting the water and Gipsy Danger following, the Kaiju had submerged completely. Raleigh couldn't get a reading on its location and just as he switched on the comm system to ask the support helicopters if they had a visual, the Kaiju leapt out of the water, claws extended and crushing jaws wide in a challenging roar.

Raleigh through a punch in desperation as the Kaiju came in under the Jaeger's guard. The blow grazed the bony plates on Binatang's head and bounced off with no effect as the monster dove deeper.

Mako and Raleigh realized the Binatang's intentions at the same time, just as the massive body impacted Gipsy's submerged torso, driving the Jaeger down further into the waves. The Kaiju's tail snapped out, catching under Mako's leg and pulling it forward, collapsing the joint despite the Jaeger's attempts to stay upright. Both pilots were thrown forward and down in their harnesses as red lights flashed through the conn-pod, redundantly telling the Rangers of the direct impact on the Jaeger's body and the damage to the limb.

Both pilots scrambled to recover and keep the conn-pod above the water. They were forced to fight the Kaiju and the massive waves created by the fight as Mako's leg struggled to respond. Just as Gipsy regained her balance, the Kaiju came straight at them. Its claws slipped past their defensive block to cut into the metal plates that protected the main reactor.

At the sound of Kaiju claws cutting through the armor of his Jaeger towards the reactor and his shoulder, Raleigh froze. Sudden overwhelming fear cut through the drift for a brief heartbeat, overwhelming everything else. The past five years vanished and he was struggling to keep his Jaeger upright as a Kaiju cut through armor and water rushed into the Jaeger's systems. Unlike the last time he had been in this situation, he didn't have the desperate drive of needing to close the Breach. There was nothing but the Jaeger, the Kaiju, and the ocean.

Unhindered, questions ran through his head, scattering his thoughts further. Had he brought the Jaeger too far out? Had the satellite readings on the depth and ocean floor been wrong? Why had LOCCENT not gotten a better description of the Kaiju with sonar? What if Gipsy wasn't actually combat ready? They should have waited closer to the coastline and let the Kaiju come to them. They shouldn't have thrown Binatang. What if there was a second Kaiju had come through the drift, undetected? Each question fought for attention against the need to fight and the simple fact that if Gipsy Danger lost stability again and fell, Mako could die.

Raleigh's vision swam. A white drivesuit seemed to float in his periphery, stark against the blackness that encroached from all sides as his focus splintered further.

Even as his mind completed the panicked thoughts, Mako's calm presence in the drift began to overpower them, suppressing them beneath her unshakable certainty in their abilities. "Raleigh! Stay with me!" Her sharp voice cut through the sound of his own heart beat that thudded in his ears, pushing it away.

As Raleigh began to regain control, Mako slapped away the Kaiju's attacking claws with a backhanded blow, forcing the creature back and away from the struggling Jaeger. Gipsy shuddered once as the reactor surged to supply the energy needed for Mako to separate the two combatants further. Gipsy Danger pulled back with quick but unsteady step as Raleigh instinctively followed Mako's movements.

Even as the Jaeger managed to regain its footing under the water, Mako fired off the plasma cannon through the foaming waves. The shot was weaker on impact due to the water but the force cut through the Binatang's thick hide, driving it even farther back with a keening sound that filtered into the conn-pod.

Raleigh blinked once, keeping the sweat that ran down his forehead out of his eyes as the world seemed to realign. Every plate and switch in the conn-pod jumped into clear contrast as he strengthened his hold on the Drift and on Gipsy. He moved forward without hesitation, turning Mako's hemisphere away from the Kaiju. A barely audible sigh of relief as Raleigh focused cut through the conn-pod. The co-pilots repositioned Gipsy Danger as Binatang rushed forward again. Raleigh's hemisphere was angled to intercept the next attack, taking the weight away from Mako's weakened leg.

The veteran Jaeger lashing out with Gipsy's massive fist at the approaching Kaiju. His punch hit Binatang where the wide neck connected with the reptilian jaw, snapping it shut with crack that echoed through the air. The massive teeth shut on the spot Mako's arm had just occupied. The Kaiju reeled backwards and before it could react, Mako surged forward with an underhanded punch, turning Raleigh's attack into a classic boxing combo.

As soon as Gipsy's fist was clear of Binatang, Raleigh fired off multiple rounds from the plasma cannon. The attacks ripped through the air, all hitting the Kaiju's wide jaw, sending flesh and bone into the air as the Kaiju thrashed.

Binatang seemed to react slowly after the successful attacks. The Kaiju struggled to regain its bearings after the second shot from the plasma cannon. Trying to take advantage of the creature's pain filled distraction, Gipsy Danger and her pilots rushed forward together in water covered in a sheen of blue blood.

Raleigh caught the Kaiju as it tried to surge forward. Gipsy's fingers clamped down on the jagged edges of the wound in the Kaiju's jaw line. Acidic blue blood began to soak the metal and gears as Raleigh dug in. Binatang shrieked and thrashed and Raleigh had to fight to keep his grip. Just as the Kaiju caught purchase on his arm and managed to push away, Mako's sword slid out, arching under the base of the Kaiju's throat then up and into its skull. Binatang shook once, all its limbs shaking disjointedly before going still.

A thin rain of blue blood splashed against Gipsy's damaged armor as Mako withdrew the chain sword. The cauterizing edges of the blade stopped the rest from pouring into the sea though the gaping holes in the Kaiju's chest and jaw leaked a steady stream of the neon blood.

"Tendo?" Raleigh found his voice and called for mission control after several minutes of silence broken only by the two pilot's harsh rapid breaths as the waves created during the fight began to settle.

"Helicopters are en route. Stand by for pick up." The LOCCENT Officer told him woodenly after a moment. The comm system clicked off then back on. "And good job scratching the brand new Jaeger." Raleigh only managed a half-hearted laugh at Tendo's attempted joke. The Ranger and Officer both only going through the motions of the post-combat tradition of joking from years ago, each too distracted from the disjointed fight. The comm light went off after a moment and Mako and Raleigh were left alone once again.

The ride back to the Shatterdome was almost completely silent, the only communication between the Jaeger and LOCCENT what was absolutely necessary. Within the Jaeger, Mako seemed to have decided giving Raleigh space was the best course of action following his distraction and weakened drifting.

Raleigh knew they would have to be debriefed with the Marshall but as soon as the last bolt was removed from his drivesuit, his feet took him straight to his bunk. Every second of the fight replayed in his mind, every hesitation, every hitch in his movements. It wasn't until he went to close the heavy door that he realized Mako had followed him the entire way through the corridors.

His co-pilot closed the door behind them while Raleigh hesitated. "You are allowed to falter Raleigh. Our drift may have been disjointed today but we won. Binatang never made it within the Miracle Mile and Gipsy Danger only has superficial damage for the most part. Do not forget the victories while focusing on your mistakes." Mako's voice was even, as if trying calm a startled animal.

Raleigh's gaze unconsciously focused on the wall covered in old pictures. Images of Yancy and their old home seemed to jump out at him. "I can't afford to Mako. With Marshall Pentecost gone and Marshall Hansen busy dealing with the bureaucrats and internal emergencies, I'm the only veteran left in the Corps. The new Rangers, the crews, the public, they all need someone to focus on. I have to be the fixed point in the Shatterdome and I wasn't today. Binatang was nothing compared to other Kaiju I've fought. It should never have taken me so long to kill it."

Raleigh's words were cut off by Mako's hand gripping his arm, blunt nails digging through his shirt as she forced him to turn away from the wall and face her. "No." The simple word was snapped out as his co-pilot glared up at him, her face contorted into an angry snarl.

"You are not the fixed point in the Shatterdome Raleigh." Mako jabbed a finger in his chest as her grip on his arm tightened. "Yes you are the only veteran left in combat but that only means you are the most experienced. I am just as qualified as you but I never saw combat until it was the only option available to the Corps. You are the has-been and I am still a novice. Together we are the fixed point and nothing less than the combination is enough. I didn't win today and neither did you. We did."

Raleigh glanced down at Mako for a moment as she trailed off then slumped down on the corner of his bed. The frame creaked beneath him then again as Mako settled on the edge next to him.

"Our jobs are difficult. More so now than ever but we are good at them. Don't you trust me?"

Raleigh was surprised by the sudden question but nodded without hesitation.

Mako smiled from her spot next to him and scooted back on the bed to lean against the head board before patting the area next to her. "And I trust you. Just remember that and we can handle anything."

Raleigh moved to the spot next to her and nodded once before staring at a point in the worn ceiling above him. "I'm just tired." Raleigh found himself admitting. "I'm tired of how we aren't winning. We're just trying to hold our ground. I didn't sign up for this. I came back for Penecost's final stand not for constant desperate fighting."

"I know." Mako reminded him evenly. "We all are tired and will be for a long time but it will get better. Soon we will not be the only team on call and just because we can't see the end now doesn't mean it isn't there. And where would you rather be?"

The pair sat in silence as Raleigh thought about her words, letting go of the fear and frustration of the last few hours. He knew it would probably return, the uncertainty and nightmares always did, but Mako had reminded him once again that he had more important things to worry about and deal with than the past.

As Raleigh began to drift to sleep, he could feel Mako running her hand through his short hair, playing with it. "Herc's going to be pissed tomorrow that we skipped the debriefing." He mumbled, relaxing into the simple sensation of just being close to his co-pilot.

"He will be fine." Mako murmured softly. "He's an expert at dealing with surly Rangers."

**…..**

**Bolded statement is lonely and unloved in college and really wants reviews to help it deal with its growing abandonment issues. Help?**

**Quick Author's Note:**

**On the subject of long range weapons to defeat the Kaiju: I don't see the major issue being that long range weapons, specifically lasers and missiles, are incapable of stopping or killing Kaiju. The main issue I see is targeting systems. Depsite the Kaijus massive size, they are fast, travelling hundreds of miles in a few hours and while the distances and times in the movies are a little ridiculous (And I'm guilty of the same thing I know) I don't see military targeting systems as capable of actively tracking and targeting the Kaiju well enough to deliver the massive payloads necessary to kill the creatures. Or I'm completely wrong and naive. Feel free to ignore my opinion.**


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